


kiss me on the mouth and set me free (but please don't bite);

by mevies



Category: Descendants (2015), Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, girl................. this is a new for me............, like.... i won't say much to not spoil but........ be ready LMAO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-01-24 07:11:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18566479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mevies/pseuds/mevies
Summary: It was pointless fighting it: they were helpless when it came down to each other.





	1. eyes on fire.

**Author's Note:**

> (JULY 13TH, 2019 DISCLAIMER: It has come to my attention that this story is, I admit, heavily similar to a Jade & Tori story written by StakeTheHeart on AO3. I did not consciously mean to do so — but I guess my inspiration was more memory than actually inspiration. I totally recognize that alongside the inspirations and ideas I got from Kisa from From Dusk Till Dawn, Katherine Pierce’s story in TVD and a bit of Killing Eve to build up the universe and Evie’s storyline, I have used their fic and (honestly, genuinely, wholeheartedly) did not realize I did it until it was brought to my attention. They are a great writer & their work is, in my opinion, something I can only hope to ever achieve & I’m so sorry that this mix-up happened at all. I’m not at all bothered to give credit where its due when something definitely did inspire me to write my own thing, and that’s why I felt the need to add this note to the beginning of the story. Thank you for all your feedbacks on this story, but credit where its due — as this was my first angst story, I wanna thank StakeTheHeart for the inspiration and the ideas even if unconsciously and I’m sorry for any discomfort that I may have caused. It honestly wasn’t my intention. There definitely won’t be a next time as I’ll try to pay more attention to where my inspiration comes from when it comes too easily. Thank you for reaching out and bringing this to my attention! I hate to step on other authors’ toes and I felt like this was definitely the case. Well, that was it! Hope you guys have a nice day!

_ It starts with a burning sensation on her neck and on her fingertips. _

_ It builds and spreads towards her whole body, running through every vessel, until all Evie can feel is the burning. It hurts, and it feels like she’d just been thrown into the fire — surely, that wasn’t the case? She knew her health hadn’t been improving and she knew she would most likely meet death as her final fate, but she knew they wouldn’t have thrown her body in the fire just yet. No, not her.  _

_ The burning sensation doesn’t stop, and along with it, an intense feeling begins growing in her throat, as if thirst, and Evie finds that once the thirst grows stronger, the burning sensation weakens.  _

_ Her fingertips move, her body tenses up, and something clicks. _

_ She opens her eyes. _

* * *

The body falls with a thud in the dark, grim alley, and the brunette woman wipes at her mouth for a small second before she gives it her attention, leaning forward and unzipping the front of the man’s jacket, her cold, thin fingers looking for something in specific. Once her fingertips recognize the form of the object she’d been looking for, she fishes the man’s wallet out from its small pocket and opens it, one eyebrow raised as she takes in the information of the man that lied unconscious and lifeless on the floor before her.

Grabbing the dollar bills from the compartment — not because she needed, but because she wanted —, she closes the wallet again and throws it on top of his lifeless form, the beady, glassy dark eyes of the man she’d seen try to roofie a girl at the bar she frequented staring back at her. With a disgusted look, she licks her lips that she was sure were still a vivid red and sighs, turning away and ready to leave the alley and the corpse behind.

* * *

Mal watches the television screen before her with a dismayed look. The news were never something she particularly enjoyed watching; but so were the demands when you were a detective and worked for the law. This particular story was probably the most demanding of Mal’s attention than any other, though, as the news anchor described in detail that the police had found another body in the streets of Auradon City.

Mal looks down at the file in her hands, the name and the low quality picture above the in depth information about the woman considered the prime suspect for the crimes the news anchor now described to be the work of a serial-killer loose in their city glaring back at her. 

Evie Grimhilde, as far as they knew, was an heir to a family fortune and lived all by her lonesome at one of the biggest houses in the city. Not exactly a house — a mansion. Evie — a name short for Genevieve — mostly kept a low profile; no one really knew what exactly the woman did for a living, other than spend most of her time at home and then spending a few nights every week at various bars in the city, coincidentally, the bars in which each victim — _always a man, always in their mid 30s, early 40s,_ — were last seen. Something that turned the coincidence into a lead — and, eventually, into them having their prime suspect and knowing where to go from there.

Evie had put out an ad looking for hired help around the house, to attend to house chores and such — a maid slash assistant, in other words. And, of course, they had done their best to make sure that Mal was the one for the job. 

It was Mal’s first ever undercover case, and to say she’s nervous about it it’s an understatement. She barely feels confident enough, and this was  _ maybe  _ one of the biggest cases in their city. If she screwed up, she doubts it’d be easily shrugged off. 

Mal sighs for the tenth time in what feels like an hour, and when the news anchors jump to another story, she grabs the remote control and turns the TV off. 

With focused eyes, she begins reading the file again from the top.

* * *

Evie was standing in the garden in her front yard, checking Jane’s work from yesterday when a black car parking in the driveway past the gates in front of her house caught her attention. She readily remembers that the new housekeeper she hired was set to come by today, and she waits for the young woman to step out of the car. Her resume was impressive — not only she had experience, but she also didn’t mind putting all hands on deck to fix or do what was necessary.

Very different from the prior guy she’d hired — a fluke, honestly, for she avoided hiring men for not deeming them trustworthy or capable of work — and being proved right when he tried to take advantage of Evie, only for him to end up _slipping and falling into the pool and hitting his head, officer, it was an accident. I was too late to save him. I only heard the splash and his scream for help._

Tragic, really.

Evie watches as she steps out of the car, and she can’t help but gape when she takes sight of the woman’s platinum blonde hair and doll-like features. Her lips were plump and her eyes were of a piercing green that took Evie’s breath away from where she stood. 

“Shit,” Evie swore under her breath, her eyes taking in the blonde beauty before her. Her skin was reminiscent of porcelain and her arms and body were toned, and Evie swore that the never-ending thirst in her throat got stronger for a moment. 

She notices the owner of the house and new employer standing a few steps away and watching, then, and her full lips stretch into a smile as she approaches. 

“Hello, you must be Miss Grimhilde,” She greets. 

“Call me Evie, please,” Evie corrects, her tone light, “Since you’ll be around here more often than not, I don’t see why we shouldn’t just skip all pointless pleasantries.” 

“Oh, okay,” The blonde says, a little thrown but smiles nevertheless, “Call me Mal, then,” she introduces herself, offering her hand for Evie to take. The brunette pauses, not exactly used to human contact that doesn’t end with a corpse on the ground, but after a moment of hesitation she takes Mal’s hand in her own. Mal’s hand is soft but strong and just slightly calloused. A true worker’s hands. 

“Please, follow me so I can show you around the house,” Evie says finally, dropping Mal’s hand and turning so she can walk up the steps of her front door and go through the big double doors. She feels and hears Mal following after her, and she turns around and pauses at the front lobby of her home when she hears Mal’s steps make a pause just as she crosses the front door. 

When she looks at Mal, the woman has a shocked and awed expression on her face, looking around the house with surprised eyes, “Whoa, this place is huge. And beautiful,” she adds after a moment, her eyes resting on the golden staircase handles on each side of the stairs. She was pretty sure that was real, actual gold.

“Thank you, it’s inherited,” Evie says, her tone detached and uninterested. As if it was just another place, as if she had no true connection with this place. Mal decided not to question it, and only nod in understanding. 

Evie took the time Mal’s distraction with the interior design of her house offered her to study the woman; Mal held the small, friendly smile but her eyes were studious and alert, as if she was taking in every detail to use as reference later. It interested Evie, for many different reasons. 

“Do you live here all by yourself?” Mal asks suddenly, curious, and Evie breaks her reverie at the question. It’s not an unusual question -- Mal isn’t the first person to utter those words in that exact order and tone to Evie. So the brunette pulls out her usual script, knowing exactly what she had to say.

“Besides the occasional maid, Jane spends the night sometimes when the work day is long. Well, and Doug. He kept the pool in order,” Evie responded calmly, her tone adopting grievance as the sentences came to an end.

“Oh, was that the…?” Mal trails off, and then clears her throat and tries again, “The employee that slipped and hit his head, right?”

Evie nods, her eyes not betraying anything. Mal bites her bottom lip, “I’m sorry if this is a touchy subject, I know it must not be easy having all of these accusations against you and on top of it all losing an employee like that…”

Evie raises an eyebrow, “You know about that?”

Mal nods sheepishly, “I heard a thing or two about it. People talk,” she shrugs, “But for what it’s worth, I don’t believe the accusations. I think people are full of shit,” She finishes. Mal watches as Evie’s eyes piqued in interest.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Mal smiles, “You’ve been dealt a bad hand and you’re all on your own, as far as I understand. I want to help you as much as I can.” 

Mal studies Evie’s reaction closely at that. Her small smile looks sincere, but her eyes are cold and calculating, as if going over several things that only a trained detective such as Mal could clock. She’s sure had it been anyone else, it would go by unnoticed.

“Thank you,” Evie says finally, her tone appreciative and yet still laced with the distance that Mal had now come to realize never quite left her tone, “Let me finish showing you around and then I’ll explain what is it that you’ll be in charge of,” the woman said, then, turning around and beginning to lead Mal deeper into her home. The blonde follows, listening as Evie took her from room to room and then up the stairs. All in all, Evie’s house was huge. There were more rooms than Mal could ever dream of owning one day, a gigantic kitchen, a large living room with a huge television screen and a huge backyard with a deep blue pool out back. 

They stopped just a few steps away from it and Mal’s green eyes scanned the area, her eyes slightly squinting at the bright light coming from the sun. This had been where the employee, Doug, supposedly fell to meet his death. It looked pretty ordinary, in a filthy-rich-pool-area kind of way. It was hard to believe a potential serial-killer lived in the house when everything was so ordinary and in place.

“I won’t be needing much cleaning done inside since I have people who come by three times a week to take care of that, but I will be needing things to be fixed and taken care of in terms of housekeeping since I’m usually locked away in my office on a daily basis,” Evie begins, her smooth voice carrying out as she circles the swimming pool and towards the shaded area where the stretchers and cushioned seats were at, “And I’ll need you to see that the pool is looked after and cleaned at least once a week since I still haven’t had the time to get someone else to do it.” 

Mal nodded, but her mind was hazy for a second as a light breeze hit them and Evie’s hair got out of place and the light baby blue blouse with a plunging v-neck exposing a lacy white bra moved as the wind hit the fabric. Evie made no move to fix what the wind had done to her outfit, and Mal tried her hardest not to stare. Evie took in Mal’s gaze and smirked. Something inside of her told her that Mal would be fun to have around; maybe she’d be able to keep her around for as long as she managed to keep Jane. She would have to study the benefits that would come with, but it was still a nice realization.

Mal then realized that Evie was dressed very nicely. Every single piece of her looked expensive -- from the high heeled shoes she was wearing to the big shiny diamond earrings she had on, every piece of Evie’s outfit screamed money in ways that Mal was expecting but was still surprised to see in person.

“Is there a problem?” Evie asks after a moment of Mal’s staring, her tone slightly amused and curious. Mal snaps her eyes back to meet Evie’s light brown ones and stammers.

“What? Y-yeah. I mean, no,” She sighs, closing her eyes for a second. Evie waits, “It’s just -- you look very nice. Your outfit, I mean.”

“Oh, thank you,” Evie gives her a smile, “I try to dress nicely from time to time, especially when I’ll be meeting someone important,” she winks, her tone silky and velvety. Mal noticed that Evie’s voice never changed -- not just her tone, but the huskiness and the smoothness that brought a chill to Mal’s spine every time. 

_ Oh, shit,  _ it hits Mal all at once,  _ she’s fucking hot. _

_ Shit.  _

Mal struggles to respond, clearing her throat and trying several times, and Evie’s smirk only widens as the time goes on. The brunette woman never really found herself feeling endeared by people; not since she’d become what she was. She either hated and raged, or she lusted and thirsted. Never in between, never anything other than. She made a mental note to be careful, to move cautiously and slowly. Feelings were dangerous.

“I think there could be benefits to a friendship with time,” Evie says when Mal gives up trying. Mal blinks and she continues, “Especially since we will be seeing each other often.” She smirks as if keeping a secret and Mal bites her lip. Evie was dangerous, in every sense of the word. She had to be careful. 

She nods. 

“Now, let me show you the guest room you can stay in if you end up working late or if you need a break,” Evie continues after a pause, and as she turns Mal shakes her head to stop her.

“No, it’s okay; I won’t be needing a room.” She politely declined. Truth was, she had no intention of staying at Evie’s home for longer than necessary, but it wouldn’t do any good to be rude about it. Staying over meant she’d have to be careful not to let her defenses and guard down, and it seemed like it’d do more harm for the case than good. Mal’s plan was to come to work, compile everything she could and then go back home to put the pieces together. 

Evie stops at the glass sliding door leading to the kitchen and spins around to look at Mal, “If you don’t want to use it, that’s okay. But it’ll be there if you need or change your mind. At least let me show you where it is should the need arise,” she persuades, and Mal finds herself nodding before she could stop herself, her green eyes completely in trance with the way Evie’s eyes warmed up her insides. 

Evie smirks when Mal nods, “Come on, then. Once the tour is over, you can go home. Your work doesn’t start until tomorrow,” Evie tells her, going inside, and Mal sighs deeply and exhales slowly before following her inside. Mal wasn’t exactly an agreeable person and she’d like to think of herself as stubborn and determined, so she had no idea how Evie had made her agree and give in so easily. Something about it felt dangerous.

And something about sliding the kitchen door behind her and following Evie felt like she was being tested.

* * *

The work wasn’t as tough as Mal had expected. Evie wasn’t lying when she told her that she had other employees to take care of the cleaning and such, and at the end of the day most of what Mal did was shopping and administrating house related chores.

The other stuff -- the more personal stuff, as in what she guessed was Evie’s work related tasks and bank and bills, a woman named Jane took care of. She seemed to be Evie’s right hand in many ways, and the only other person besides Evie to be allowed in the head of the house’s office and bedroom. Mal had a few conversations with Jane, mostly during the other woman’s tending to Evie’s garden, but the brunette wouldn’t budge -- her lips were sealed and there was no doubt where her loyalty lied. And Mal tried not to push it too much; it would do no good for her if Evie’s trusty confidant started suspecting her because of her questions. 

(Curiosity killed the cat, and all that.)

Evie also hadn’t been lying when she said that they would see each other often, as much as she hadn’t been lying about being locked away inside the house, in her office, for most of the days, either. She’d come outside and offer Mal a glass of water and food a few times during the days she was working, but other that, she was locked away doing something Mal could only wonder about. 

Sometimes they would talk while Mal worked, and despite the many self reminders and mental notes to stay detached and view the woman as a prime suspect in a serial-killer case and not the eccentric mysterious wealthy woman with no attachments to murder that Evie portrayed, the blonde detective couldn’t help but forget for a short moment every once in a while. Mal was very perceptive and it was one of the many compliments she’d gotten at work, and for that reason alone she was sure that she’d seen sincere, genuine moments of vulnerability and honesty in Evie during a few of their talks, almost as if the distance and detachment mixed with sultriness and danger that seemed to be part of Evie stripped away for small moments between the two of them. They’d even talked about family once; although Evie had deflected when Mal had turned her questions on to her and her own family history. Mal was by no means a trained psychologist or a psychiatrist, but she was sure that Evie had a history with abuse in her past. She could bet that proven guilty, a rough background with violence and her impulse to kill could be stemmed from her childhood. It was only a hunch, though, but it was something that gave Mal things to think about and look for when talking to the other woman.

They got along fine and Mal would go so far as say that Evie trusted her; maybe not as much as she seemed to trust Jane, but enough that she sometimes left Mal alone in the house. Mal took those rare opportunities to snoop for leads, and always turned out disappointed when her extensive searching came up empty. Evie was a smart woman, there was no doubt in her mind about that. She knew it wouldn’t be easy to find things with substance, knew that in some cases, years would go by before the first substantial lead was found. Sure, it’d been months since she’d took the case, but still. She wondered how long would it be before she got what she needed.

And there was something else that fueled Mal’s concerns about the case -- she was highly suspicious of Evie’s intentions towards her. She didn’t know if the woman was coming on to her or setting her up so she could make Mal her next victim when she least expected. It was hard being careful when it came down to Evie, it was extremely difficult for her to not to give in whenever the woman tried to coax her into staying the night and using the guest bedroom like she’d offered her time and time again since her first day, but Mal tried her damn hardest to remain determined not to stay the night and let her guard down.

At the same time, Evie tried to decide what she wanted. Mal was a difficult nut to crack, and every time she tried to advance and was shot down only made her more determined. Mal had moments she was shy and others she was straightforward, and Evie found it extremely difficult to read her at times. She wondered if that was how people felt when it came to her. It was interesting, to say the least, to be forced to deal with someone that mirrored some of her own actions and instincts. Evie knew that she had no intention of getting rid of Mal just yet, since she would much rather wait and see what type of benefits Mal could bring to her besides her excellent work as a housekeeper. 

Mal never gave in, not when Evie hinted at things and not when she gave her subtle touches, although her self control wasn’t flawless to the point she was able to stop the promising reactions to Evie’s behavior. It made the brunette all the more determined; making it a game of how long it would take for her to get the blonde to give in, counting the stammering and blushing as bonus points until the knockout came crashing in and Evie got what she wanted.

Mal was entertaining in ways Evie wasn’t used to -- the way she spoke and acted around Evie was something new, it was somewhat exciting in ways the brunette hadn’t expected. At times, Evie felt the distance between her current self and her so called humanity getting shorter, only for it to grow and come crashing back when Mal left for the day and in consequence left Evie alone with nothing but the unquenchable thirst, the rage and the weight of a century of hurt on her shoulders.

There wasn’t anything that Evie could do about it other than the usual, and Evie took to her usual methods of getting the release she needed, finding men at the usual bars she frequented. Sexual release wasn’t something she was interested with them, not when she was so focused on getting it from Mal and especially not from men, but they could at least give her some relief to the burning sensation in her throat that followed her for the better part of her existence.

* * *

Halloween came around, and Evie let herself get caught up in the decorating of her mansion alongside with her employees. For the short time that Evie had lived in that neighborhood, she found that her house was one of, if not the best decorated houses every holiday; not because she was particularly festive but because she had people she paid to make sure that her house looked the part. She had to admit, though -- Halloween was probably Evie’s favorite holiday, for obvious reasons. The night always felt celebratory in a way, and Evie always made sure to go all out when the holiday rolled by.

Besides, acting nice, decorating your home and giving candy to happy children always counted as bonus points with your neighborhood when your name usually came up when conversations about serial-killers at large and murders were taking place.

Evie was currently standing on her front porch, watching as Jane and Mal handed candies to children at the gates, Jane dressed as a good fairy in pastels and Mal dressed as a dark one in black and purple. Evie watches as the blonde mutters something to Jane and turns around, walking back towards the front porch where the stocks of candy were so she could reload her batch. 

“Enjoying yourself?” Evie asks, eyeing the dark fairy with a somewhat amused expression. Mal shrugs before she leans down to get the candy.

“Halloween is pretty fun,” She says, her tone honest, “It’s always been my favorite holiday.”

“Yeah, me too,” Evie responds. Mal grins, her face glowing in the moonlight because of the makeup. 

The blonde liked Evie’s costume. Evie was somewhat dressed as a vampire witch, Mal guesses, or something else entirely. Evie hadn’t given her an explanation, but her look gave Mal a few clues of what she had dressed as. The dress she wore was reminiscent of a witch, with the corset showing her neckline and giving her a cleavage and her hair falling in luscious waves over her smooth tanned shoulders. Evie’s makeup was dark and her lips were apple red, matching the fake blood covering her neck, cleavage and arms, contrasting nicely with her skin and giving her a creepy air that sent shivers down Mal spine. She couldn’t help but feel like there was something extremely macabre about that specific detail in Evie’s costume, and it only served as a reminder to Mal as to why she was really there.

Her legs were exposed as the bottom half of Evie’s dress was short on the front and long on the back, and the entire look was completed by black leather thigh high boots. Evie looked dangerous and sexy, a combination that fitted her so well that Mal had been rendered speechless when she’d first seen her earlier that night. Her reaction hadn’t gone unnoticed by Evie, who’d given her a pleased smirk and a wink before walking away. Mal was attracted to Evie, plain and simple, and she could not ignore it any longer. 

Little did she know, Evie felt the same way, and had made her decision -- she would keep Mal around for a little longer.

* * *

As the months went by and after Mal had come to her realization on Halloween, Mal became more and more convinced that Evie liked to tease her. There was no other plausible explanation to the way she behaved around the blonde, or the way she sometimes sauntered in nothing but robe and lingerie and sometimes even in a towel. Whenever she did as such and Mal wasn’t the only employee around, the other women that worked for Evie wouldn’t bat an eyelash -- Jane acted as if Evie was dressed appropriately even if the statement couldn’t be more false. Mal guessed that was the perks when all of your employees were women -- you were safe to do as you pleased. At least when you were and looked like Evie Grimhilde.

It was an early morning when Mal let herself in, noticing the house was silent and most likely empty since the maids had come by for cleaning the prior day. The blonde ran her pointer finger on a shelf as she walked by just for the kicks, and nodded to herself when her pointer finger came up clean, no dust in sight. She walked in the kitchen and stopped in her tracks when she saw Evie sitting by the counter, her back to her, the silky blue robe she wore to bed falling over her right shoulder and exposing the thin strap of a lacy blue bra. Mal gulps and fights the blush as she moves in the kitchen.

“Morning, Evie,” she greets easily, trying to mask her tone. Evie looks lost in thought, her brown eyes focused in one specific point in her kitchen but she nods at Mal at the sound of her voice, having sensed the woman’s presence ever since her car was about two minutes away from her residence.

“Mal,” She greets back, her voice low and detached, even more than usual. Mal studied Evie’s expression and found herself somewhat breathless; the brunette was simply stunning. She had no makeup on yet, yet her skin was free of any imperfections and so clean and smooth that it made Mal want to reach out and touch it to see if it felt as soft as it looked. Evie had such a natural, breathtaking beauty -- Mal couldn’t help but think of the word goddess when thinking of adjectives for her. She wouldn’t ever utter that word to Evie, though, and unbeknownst to her, it was best that she didn’t -- it wouldn’t be well received. 

Evie watched as Mal walked around the kitchen to prepare coffee for herself absentmindedly, her mind planning the day she had ahead of her as her eyes followed Mal’s the way one would say Mona Lisa’s did to those who visited her painting hung up on the walls of the Louvre. 

She was going to the bar again tonight. She was going to lure a guy back to her home. She would satisfy her cravings. She would put Mal to the test and see if she could trust her or not -- she hoped she could. It’d be nice to have someone else other than Jane at her corner, someone else to be her alibi should she need it, as she was sure she would. When it came down to her thirst, it was a given -- she would always need to kill it, to push it down until she could ignore it for sometime until she couldn’t anymore. 

“Evie?” Mal called to her from where she stood in front of the woman and on the other side of the counter, her mug of coffee on one hand as the other was waved back and forth in front of the woman’s face. Evie’s brown eyes snapped up to meet Mal’s and caught Mal’s green ones in a trance until she could feel the blonde woman start fidgeting under the intensity of Evie’s scrutiny. The brunette smirked and released her from her stare after a sadistic moment of victory.

“Yes?” She says finally, voice silky and smooth as ever.

“You okay? You look a little ill and distracted,” Mal says, her tone somewhat toeing the lines of concerned and teasing.

“Thinking. Preoccupied,” Evie shrugs, “I have plans today, and I might need your help later,” she says, her manicured fingernails tapping away at the marble counter as she studied Mal for any reactions. Mal’s eyes dropped to her fingers and gulped. She knew Evie had seen it and she didn’t want to know what the knowing smirk on Evie’s lips looked like, so she looked away for a moment to gather herself. Evie took that moment to take in the other woman’s features with a different kind of craving. 

“What did you have planned?” Mal asked eventually, her voice almost breaking. 

Evie decides to let it pass, “Meeting someone. Maybe bringing them home,” she responds, her tone mysterious and teasing and somewhat ominous. It makes Mal tense up, not going unnoticed by Evie’s eyes on her, monitoring her expression. 

“Why maybe?” Mal asks, trying to control the tone of her voice. Evie’s eyes and the smirk on her face were unreadable, and Mal realized that the fire burning in her stomach wasn’t discomfort at the thought that maybe Evie was going to attack again today -- no, it was for another reason completely. 

“Because I might have to get it done before we get here,” Evie responds, teasing, suggestive. The feeling of Evie’s thumb running on top of the hand that Mal had left resting on the marble counter makes the blonde jump.

“Oh, okay,” Mal says, “Um, so, do you need me before or…? I don’t understand,” Mal says, a little awkward, and the wicked smirk on Evie’s face is almost vicious. She was enjoying it too much.

“After, maybe before. I don’t know yet,” She responds with a shrug, ever so vague. Mal tries to suppress the frustrated groan at the lack of information. Evie could be so frustrating.

“Okay, then. I should let you go do your thing, then,” Mal says finally, beginning to circle the counter and head towards the glass door leading to the pool area. She’s stopped, though, when she passes behind Evie and is stopped in her tracks when Evie’s cold, hard but still soft hand circles her wrist and pulls her toward her.

“Is that what you want, Mal?” Evie asks, her voice low and provoking a bead of sweat to fall on the corner of Mal’s forehead. The blonde gulps, knowing the difference from what she wanted to say to what she had to.

In the end, her duty won over her needs as she responded, “Whatever you want is what I want. If it’s going to bars and hooking up with strangers than by all means, have fun,” she states, her heart nowhere near it, “Just let me know when you need me later, I’ll be in the guest room.” She mumbles, pulling away and Evie lets her, her jaw locked in frustration and almost anger at the blonde. 

She hated her. She hated her because she wanted her -- no, needed her. She needed to mark Mal as her own. She needed to make Mal hers. It frustrated her, it made her burn -- it made her angry. And Evie hated being angry.

* * *

Jane helped her Evie get dressed for the evening and she left before Evie could finish putting on her makeup, leaving the brunette woman to go seek Mal for help to close the necklace clasp around her neck. She found the woman standing by the kitchen counter again, and the way she paused her actions and her eyes widened when she saw Evie made the brunette grit her teeth and fight the memory from taking over her mind and distracting her from her plans.

The way Mal looked at her, in admiration, almost adoringly, as if Evie was some sort of goddess on Earth made her angry before she could help it; it was too reminiscent of a memory Evie would much rather avoid than revisit, and she pushes the thought away as she looks away from Mal’s eyes to focus on the task at hand. She hands the necklace to Mal wordlessly, and when the blonde takes the necklace and looks down at it for a split second before looking at a Evie that’s already turning around and pushing her hair up so she can see her neck better. Mal gulps and does as told, and if her fingertips linger at Evie’s smooth and somewhat cold tanned skin, neither mention it. Evie could’ve easily done the task herself, but she couldn’t resist it, and the brush of Mal’s hand on the small of her back for a slight moment made it all worth it. 

She felt her skin burn at the spots where Mal had made contact with well after she’d left, and Evie pushed away all thoughts of the blonde as she tried to focus on the evening she had ahead of her. If all went according to plan, Evie would be incredibly satisfied by the time the next morning rolled around. She parked the car on the usual spot across from one of the bars she frequented, almost half an hour away from her house. There are a few people lounging in front of the bar, either having a smoke or talking, and Evie ignores the few catcalls she get from the older (and ironically, younger) drunk men that held no interest to her whatsoever. 

Evie sat at the corner of the bar, as usual, a place that offered her a good view of the room and the people in it. The place was dark and smokey and the smell of alcohol and cigarettes would’ve bothered Evie if such things bothered her, but it was slowly but surely filling up as it always did as the night progressed and soon Evie was sure she had found tonight’s dinner. She watched as a tall, well built guy that looked to be in his mid 30s hanged around a group of women at the bar, watching and waiting as one of the women in the group looked away so he could slip something in her drink. Guys like these never cared much for subtlety -- they knew what they were doing and how and what they needed to do. And Evie always knew where and how to spot them; had trained herself in this, a product of the times she’d wished she could’ve been smarter way back when, had known how to spot them, had let herself wonder and go crazy with the what ifs, with the many possibilities she knew where never even that -- she never had a chance. 

She curses Mal -- that moment in the kitchen had reminded her of things she didn’t want to deal with today, had thrown her off. If only Mal hadn’t looked at her that way --

_ Focus. You need to focus. _

She snarls to herself, and her hands form a fist on top of the table as she tries her hardest to pull herself back to the moment. Her brown eyes focus on the man across the bar as he begins slipping the girl’s drink with his disgusting drug and stands. Her heeled heels lead her towards him and she taps him by the shoulder, and when the man turns halfway to see who was behind him, she feels her eyes shifting from brown to gold and sees the man’s eyes widen before they become glassy and empty as he enters a trance. Evie smirks and leans forward, whispering a command for him to follow her and walks away, not before she nick’s the woman’s glass and takes it with her. The woman, bless her heart, never notices anything out of the ordinary until minutes later, when she reaches for her drink and finds nothing.

Evie drops the glass in the street as she walks towards her car, the guy trailing after her in a trance, almost like a lost, disgusting puppy. Evie orders him to get in her passenger seat with a silky, seducing tone and he obeys promptly, his eyes never losing the glassy expression she was so used to seeing from men like him. She gets in the driver’s seat and orders him to keep his hands to himself and his mouth shut, and he does as told. Evie smirks to herself, suddenly more optimistic about the outcome of tonight than she had been before. Men such as these were weak-minded. They made everything so much more easy for her. 

When she drives past the gates and parks her car in front of her home, she notices that the living room lights were on and smiles to herself. Mal was still there. She stayed. 

Evie gets out of the car after ordering the silent man to do the same, and she tugs him inside, clouding his mind with whispered seductive empty promises in his ear. He never blinked, completely entranced by her, and Evie heard Mal’s teeth gritting and jaw locking in the living room as she pulled the guy up the stairs with her. 

In the living room, Mal pushed away bitter and jealous thoughts as she heard Evie fumble up the stairs with her companion. She hated it -- the scene, the situation, her feelings, everything. She hated this case. She hated Evie.

“Fucking shit,” Mal gritted to herself, wanting nothing more than to shoot herself for catching feelings for the potential serial-killer she was supposed to be investigating. Her hands ball into fists when she hears the loud thump upstairs and she almost leaves, deciding to ignore Evie’s request for her to wait to help her with whatever it was after… after. The request seemed more sick and twisted as the minutes went by and the sounds got louder. 

Meanwhile, Evie sat atop of the barely conscious man, one of her hands on his neck and the other on his chest, applying light pressure to keep him in place. He tried to fight it, but his eyes widened once he figured out that Evie was much, much stronger than him and fighting was useless. These were always Evie’s favorite moments -- when they realized that she wasn’t weak like they assumed her to be. When they knew they were helpless under her hold. He grumbled something under his breath, a trail of blood starting to pool from under his head from where it had hit on the floor when he fell and Evie smirks.

“Now, I think it’ll be more enjoyable if you just relax,” she tells him, her voice sickly sweet. She brings the hand on his chest up until she’s riling his jacket away and exposing his shoulder covered by the white fabric of his t-shirt and the side of his neck that was calling her name. Evie smirks and leans forward, deciding to just listen to her thirst instead of playing with her meal, and the whimper the man leaves out under her fuels her fire. She feels her lips retracting and the fangs growing and she sinks her teeth deep into vulnerable flesh. He cries out and tries to buck her off but she was expecting that and was much stronger. She smirks as she drinks and feels him give up his fight slowly as his blood left his body.

She feels his heart slowing out under her hand until it stops, and it’s well past a few minutes before she feels fully satisfied. She leans back so she’s back to sitting on top of him and her eyes fall on the once white shirt tainted with red, to his now pale corpse and then finally to her red stained fingers. She smirks as her thirst dies out, quenched for the moment, and pleasure runs deep in her veins at the feeling of her entire body being filled with what it’d been longing for.

She studies the wound on his neck and the blood on her floor for a moment, realizing that she’d been a little too messy today. She stood up with a sigh and stepped over his body, turning him so his front was to the floor with her heel clad foot so he’d stop messing up her floor as much with his blood. She turns to leave the room only to come face with face with a paralyzed Mal. 

Oh,  _ fuck.  _ This hadn’t been how she wanted Mal to find out. Mal stood in the doorway, her eyes wide in shock mixed with fear and something else Evie couldn’t quite pinpoint, and the brunette wondered how much she’d seen. 

Mal was speechless, motionless. Her body was frozen, almost as if it had forgotten how to work. She’d finally witnessed what she’d been waiting so long to see, and yet… Nothing could’ve prepared her for the sight in front of her. It was just as they had said. Evie was the murderer. It was right in front of her -- from the corpse on her floor, bleeding out and lifeless, to the blood covering Evie’s face and hands and the look in Evie’s eyes. She was guilty. No, it was more than that. Nothing in the world, no file, no investigation could’ve prepared Mal for what she would come to find out.

The fangs in Evie’s mouth retract and her eyes go back to the light brown Mal is so used to, and it somehow breaks Mal’s trance.

“W-what --” She gasps out, trying her hardest to gather her thoughts.

“I’m sorry you had to see this,” Evie says, her voice even and smooth as ever, “That must not have been pretty,” she adds, walking over. Mal takes a step back out of instinct, wanting there to be space between her and the blood covered woman in front of her.

“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you,” Evie tries again, her tone still silky smooth but this time with an edge -- Mal thinks it sounds like sincerity. It makes her pause, and it’s enough for Evie to rest her hand on her shoulder. Mal’s stomach drops when she realizes her hand has blood on it. 

“I need your help, Mal. Can you do that? Can you help me?” Evie whispers, her tone soft and almost pleading. Evie’s eyes are deep and brown and beautiful and her tone calms down the craziness inside Mal’s chaotic mind. Mal was suddenly hit with so much emotion, so much conviction. She knew what Evie wanted her to do. She knew now what Evie needed her help with. It was crazy, it was  _ fucking insane _ , but Mal knew there was only one possible answer to give the woman with the pleading eyes in front of her.

“I’ll help you,” Mal all but whispers, feeling as if an entirely new and different person had taken over her soul, and yet she knew that it was herself. She knew she was consciously making this decision. Something in her needed to help Evie. Something in her knew what she needed to do to. It wouldn’t be easy, but she would do it. 

Evie gave her a sincere smile, one she hadn’t given her before, and she brings her bloody hand up to Mal’s porcelain cheek, running her thumb across the smooth skin in affection and gratitude. 

“I knew I could trust you, M.” She says softly, and the way she looks at Mal combined with the tone of her voice fuels Mal’s next course of actions. Throwing all caution out the window, Mal decides to just follow her instincts and do what she’d been trying her hardest to avoid doing since the first day. She slides her hand behind Evie’s neck with her hand and pulls her into a furious kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two comin' up soon ♥


	2. in my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ummm... I tried. I really tried.

_ “I have what you asked me for,” Jane tells her one afternoon after she closes the door of Evie’s office behind her. The taller woman looks up from the design she’d been working on for the better part of that week in interest and watches as Jane walks toward her desk, taking Evie’s eyebrow raise as a sign for her to go on. She drops a file on top of her desk and waits for Evie to take it in her hands.  _

_ The woman opens the file she’d been given and her brown eyes run across the pages, her being suddenly being filled with rage and betrayal as the words glare back at her. She should’ve known -- no one was that helpful. No one was that perfect. There had to be a hidden agenda, a catch. When she’d initially looked into Mal’s background before hiring her, she hadn’t found anything, but she guesses it made sense for that to happen -- she’d been tricked into letting her in. She’d been fooled. Lied to. So, after the inkling suspicion that something was wrong began to get almost overwhelming, she had Jane run a background check on her blond employee with the help of one of her tech savvy friends from college.  _

_ And as always, her trust in Jane had come up prolific as the other woman had delivered exactly what she asked of her, exactly what she needed -- it took her sometime, but eventually the truth came out. Mal was working undercover. Which meant they were on to her. All in all, that didn’t worry her too much -- honestly, what would the police do? Lock her up? She’d like to see them try. But this could be an eventual problem -- Evie never liked inconveniences. And moving to different towns to start over was always  _ **_so_ ** _ inconvenient.  _

_ “Thank you, Jane,” She says, her tone sincere as always when it came down to the other woman and her services. Jane gave her a smile. _

_ “Of course, Evie,” And then, with a concerned look and a bite to her lips, she continued, “What are you gonna do about it?” _

_ Evie gave her a calming smile as she stood up from her chair, circling over the desk and bringing her hands to both of Jane’s shoulders and meeting her brown eyes with Jane’s blue ones in comfort, “Don’t worry about me, Jane. I’ll be fine.” _

_ Jane doesn’t seem convinced, but she nods and exhales. She trusted Evie.  _

_ Evie was always fine. _

* * *

Mal helped her cover the murder like she said she would. Evie had to admit that she’d never been happier to be right. And honestly -- something about the knowledge that she could twist the good, honest cop into someone who would help a murderer get away with it without even using her persuasion powers or any of her mind control tricks excited her, fueled the fire of rebellion within her soul.

Unfortunately, with her success also came the sad realization that there was only one thing left to do, seeing as Mal had seen and knew for a fact that Evie was something other than human. If Mal had only known she was guilty for the murders maybe Evie wouldn’t have to go as far as what she knew she had to do in order to protect herself. 

She couldn’t allow Mal to know that small, but important detail about her. It just wasn’t allowed -- not even Jane, whom Evie trusted with almost everything, knew about her being a supernatural being. Something akin to a vampire but more powerful than. No one knew her history, and no one lived to tell the tale. And, unfortunately, it had to continue that way. 

Mal had become sort of a confidant for her, an important part and piece of Evie’s life that she couldn’t imagine going without now that she had it. She felt a connection with Mal that she’d never felt with anyone else, not even before tragedy had struck years and years ago and Evie was only but a human given too much importance to. 

Evie huffs in irritation at the irony of it all, hating more than anything that the universe liked to play games with her so much. It seemed as if Evie had truly been damned for all of her existence -- she guesses the universe considered a never ending, bitter existence was what she deserved for the blasphemy committed by other people a century ago, the people who had deemed her worthy of their worshipping and filled their voices with adoration as they called her a goddess. 

Evie was doing so much better before Mal. She was good on her own. And then Mal came in and destroyed the walls Evie had spent almost a century and a half working to build. She’d made Evie feel things other than her usual bitterness and coldness, and for that Evie hated her. She hated her fiercely and passionately. She would’ve been so much better off had she not met Mal -- if she didn’t have the weight of what she knew she had to do pairing over her shoulder. 

* * *

Mal was distracted as she made her way inside the house through the glass doors, turning to close it as her work day was almost over and the sun was setting. Evie had been holed up in what she assumed to be her office all day long, so it’s no wonder Mal was surprised when she turned around and her body instantly crashed with Evie’s. The brunette steadied her by grabbing her hips with her hands and pulling her to her, and Mal inhaled sharply at their closeness.

“Hello,” Evie greeted, almost teasing, smirking. Mal chuckled, and the movement of her chest against Evie’s front made the brunette’s hands tighten their hold on her waist. She suppressed a groan.

“Um, I was on my way to find you,” Mal says, almost breathlessly, not exactly used to being this close to Evie, “I’m done for the day and on my way home,” she explained when Evie raised an inquiring eyebrow. 

Evie nodded, her light brown eyes staring deep into Mal’s green ones. Mal’s eyes were warm and soft when they looked at her, and Evie felt the weight of actual crushing sadness on her chest. It left her breathless. It felt like regret. It felt like longing, even when she had Mal right in front of her. Because she knew it wouldn’t last. Because she knew she would miss her. Miss the way Mal felt, and the way Mal made her feel. It was as close to having her humanity switch turned on than Evie had ever felt since she’d decided to let go of all humanity, of all goodness and all of the hope and optimism and pureness of heart that had gotten her in this whole situation, in this whole eternal damnation to begin with. And God, she hated Mal. Hated her for making her feel that way, but embraced it nevertheless. It felt human.

Evie cherished it, in a weird way. Mal studied Evie’s face with confused eyes, not understanding why Evie suddenly looked so tortured and sad. There was something of surrender in her brown eyes that were usually so fierce and confident, even if a little cold and distant most times, and Mal felt oddly uncomfortable by the fact. Evie’s hands left her hips and moved up so they were cupping her cheeks in her cold, tanned hands, and Mal waited, her green eyes never leaving Evie’s. 

Evie’s hands were soft against her skin, but Mal knew that those were killer hands. She knew what they were capable of.

Evie was beautiful, so, so breathtakingly beautiful. Her beauty was classic and Mal’s eyes could never find any flaws in it, no matter how much she tried. And Evie could be so gentle when she held her face in her hands like this, but Mal knew that Evie was anything but.

And yet. 

And yet her heart couldn’t deny the feelings she had for the woman before her. 

“Stay the night,” Evie mumbles, her thumbs caressing Mal’s porcelain cheeks with tenderness. Mal sighed deeply at the attention and her eyes closed fully when Evie’s full lips met with her own. She responded eagerly, passionately, burying her hand in Evie’s soft, wavy dark hair as the other pulled Evie impossibly closer to her. This was the first time after that night, and everything in Mal told her to pull away. Her instincts screamed at her to stop this, to go, to leave. To stop this madness once and for all. 

But her heart screamed different things at her, Evie being everywhere all at once -- her body against her, her scent being inhaled by Mal’s every breath, the noises Evie made as they kissed passionately all Mal could hear.

“Mal,” Evie groaned, backing her against the glass door where she pressed their bodies together once more. Evie pushed Mal’s tongue from her mouth and traveled her lips from her jaw to her neck, and Mal’s instincts told her to flee at the same time as they told her to tilt her head and give her more access. Evie began to scatter kisses before nipping softly at the skin of Mal’s neck, and the woman whimpered against her. Evie could sense the adrenaline running through the woman’s veins against her and smirked. The burning sensation on her throat was raging wildly, but she could easily ignore it when she gave attention to other urges that had been silenced for so long when it came down to the particular woman before her. 

She nips at Mal’s neck, not strong enough that it’d draw blood or hurt her, and Mal moans and rolls her hips against hers. Evie encourages this behavior with a hand on her behind, and Mal’s head falls back against the wall.

“Bed,” Mal grunts, lifting a leg to wrap around Evie. The brunette nods and lifts Mal’s other leg, picking her up. They kiss as Evie takes them to her room, laying Mal on her bed. As soon as she was free she yanked off her shirt, her pants soon following. Mal watched, panting as Evie stood in her underwear in front of her. She bit her lip when Evie turned her attention to her, then, and started to strip her off her clothes. Evie started by her shirt, ripping the fabric with a simple movement of her hands. She’d wanted to do that for so long. Her hands roughly - yet still carefully - slid down Mal’s body to tug off her pants next. The moment they were off, Evie’s lips pressed to Mal’s chest, urging her further on the bed and crawled over her, kisses falling lower and lower on her body.

“You’re so beautiful, I can’t fucking stand it,” Evie confesses, her full lips against the sensitive skin of Mal’s navel. Mal’s muscles contract and she inhales sharply. 

“You’re one to talk,” Mal sasses back, her lips dry. Evie chuckles lightly against her skin, the sound huskier than normal, and Mal groans. Evie’s hand run over the damp material between Mal’s thighs and she exhales; Mal must really feel something for her if she was allowing her to have such control over her. Mal was vulnerable under her -- if she wanted to, Evie could easily kill her. But the moment was one they desperately wanted to enjoy, that Evie needed to enjoy before she had to get her plans moving and before she did what she knew she had to. Evie leaned over Mal and kissed her hard and passionate, burying her hips against Mal’s legs and bucking. Mal moaned and pressed back into Evie.

Mal wondered how she could willingly be so vulnerable to Evie. She was supposed to control herself, to not give in -- but it felt too good to stop. She ran her hands up Evie’s toned back and unhooked her bra, pulling it down and tossing it to the side once the woman slid it off her arms. Mal sat up, bringing Evie to a sitting position as well as she busied her lips with the newly uncovered flesh. Evie’s skin was cold and warm at the same time, and Mal couldn’t get enough of it. Evie moaned breathlessly in her ear and pulled at her hair, rocking into her again, and before Mal could know what was happening, Evie pushed her back to a lying position on her back and held her down, teeth on her neck and then her shoulder. Mal’s fear kicked in right before she exhaled and relaxed when Evie’s tongue soothed the sharp pain and she realized Evie hadn’t bitten hard enough to draw blood. She was being careful, and when Evie pulled away to look at her in the dark, her fangs were nowhere to be seen. She teased her way down Mal’s body and yanked at her underwear.

“These need to come off,” she purred against Mal’s mouth, her tongue slipping out to trace the blonde’s lip. Evie gave her a wicked smirk as Mal lifted her hips and Evie bared her completely. Before she continued, Mal started tugging at the deep blue piece she, herself, still had left and Evie sighed, having no choice but to comply and remove it herself. Mal grinned and Evie rolled her eyes, going back to the task at hand. The feeling of their lower bodies meeting in such a state caused them both to exhale sharply, and Mal moaned her name as Evie shuddered at the sound. She caught Mal’s lips in a slow yet heated kiss, her hand dragging down her pale body. She could feel every vessel, every breath of life inside Mal’s being, and it only fueled her actions. Her fingers found their destination and began their movement until Mal was squirming under her again. 

Mal’s green eyes met Evie’s and she frowned, frustrated, and Evie gave her a knowing smirk.

“What is it?” she asks, even though she knows, and Mal all but growls. Mal grabs her wrist and grits her teeth.

“You love the thrill of the hunt, don’t you? Even when it doesn’t end in kill,” Mal says through gritted teeth, her tone husky and laced with desire and something else Evie can’t quite recognize, something accusing. Something she didn’t like. She almost rebutted until all words and thoughts flew off her mind as soon as Mal’s fingers dipped into her. She cries out and her back arches before she buries her head in the blonde’s neck. Mal thrust her fingers into her twice before curling them, and Evie moaned and rocked into her hand, desperate for more. Mal took this rare moment of vulnerability from Evie and rolled them over, knowing that Evie would have her guard down. She starts pumping steadily into the brunette, hands firm, her thumb drawing circles on her sensitive bundle of nerves. Evie’s toned and tanned legs closed on Mal’s hand tightly, her thighs feeling like iron against her wrist, and Evie felt herself nearing the edge. Mal leaned in and bit at her jaw and then her ear, tugging it once harshly before letting it go.

“I’m not like those guys, Evie,” Mal whispers harshly, “I’m not your helpless prey. I fight back,” she husked in her ear. Evie wanted to lash out at that exact moment -- wanted to get Mal off of her and take her out, show her what exactly she was capable of, but one flick of Mal’s fingers deep into her made her lose all train of vengeful thoughts. Instead of deadly threats, all Evie let out was a breathless gasp. Mal bit into her shoulder and her back arched involuntarily. She cried out as she came undone, Mal elongating the moment with slower movements. It’d been years since Evie had let go this hard, and her body trembled with the aftershock after she came down slowly. Mal slipped her fingers out and stroked her thigh slowly. 

“I can’t fucking stand you,” Evie spits after a moment, unable to think of anything else to say or do. Her eyes were shut, her breathing was erratic. Mal scoffed, and for some reason the sound of it made Evie angry, “Fuck you.”

“That’s what I’m waiting for,” Mal responds. There’s a calm before the storm in form of Evie shoving her on her back and holding her down with a snarl. Mal’s heart skipped when she saw the intensity in Evie’s brown eyes and noticed the fangs beginning to appear, only for Evie to close her eyes and breath deeply and retract them. Her hold on Mal, though, didn’t falter. If anything, it got stronger to the point where Mal was sure it’d start to bruise. Mal would’ve feared for her life had Evie not met her lips with an angry, passionate kiss. She bit Mal’s lips and then pulled away to hold her arms above her head.

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Evie threatens, her voice almost unrecognizable.

“Then show me,” Mal challenged. Evie glared, her grip on Mal becoming rough. Mal sucked in a breath at that and was surprised when she realized the rush she was feeling wasn’t because of pain. Evie’s hands slid from her arms towards her chest area, and her fingers took their time squeezing and pinching before her mouth took over to bite and suck. Evie’s long fingers moved lower, one hand moving to hold her place on top of Mal as her knees sunk in the mattress and her other hand moved so it was cupping the space between her legs. 

“You may not be helpless and you may not be my prey, but you’re forgetting something,” Evie stated before she sinks two fingers into Mal before the woman could say anything, “You’re  _ mine _ .”

Evie punctuates her statement with a hard thrust and Mal moans loudly in response, her hips beginning to lift with each pump of Evie’s long fingers, her sighs turning into groans and then breathless moans. Evie grunts and Mal cries out in a mix of pleasure and anger once the statement dawns on her and she realizes she’s proving Evie right and there’s nothing that could be done about it at this point. Evie dug her nails into the mattress and leaned in to taunt the blonde. Mal tried to kiss her to shut her up but Evie denied her access to her mouth.

“No,” Evie growls, her entire being possessed with satisfaction at having rendered an once upon a time cocky Mal helpless against her ministrations. She moved Mal’s head to the side with her own so she could bite at her neck, and she half expected the blonde to push her away at that, but instead, Mal pulled her closer, digging her nails at Evie’s shoulder blades. The sharp bite made her hips jerk, and this time it was enough to draw blood. Evie’s tongue swiped over it quickly, though, before any blood could spill from it. Mal whimpered against Evie’s neck and her hips bucked up against her. Evie’s fingers slowed their fast pace into slower caresses that hit all the spots Mal longed for her to hit. When Mal finally found her release, Evie couldn’t help but come with her, the warmth of Mal’s body and the taste of Mal’s blood heavy on her mind and hazing her every thought. Evie was almost feral at this point. They rocked into each other as they came down together and when Evie finally slid her fingers free, she gave Mal a satisfied smirk when the blonde groaned. 

“Fucking hell,” Mal sighed, exhaling when Evie leaned down to kiss her neck, cheek, jaw and then her lips.

“Mhmm,” She hummed against the other woman’s mouth, a wicked chuckle punctuating her agreement. Mal shivers.

“You suck,” She grumbles, glaring at the ceiling before Evie’s face hovered above hers and into her line of sight.

“In more ways than one,” Evie playfully responded, “Wanna see?” she asked, teasing, and slid down to rest between the blonde’s legs. She rested her hands on top of Mal’s stomach and then her chin on top of them as she looked up at Mal, waiting. Mal rolled her eyes and Evie took that as her permission to go ahead and ducked her head down between her legs and got to work. With a groan, Mal took one of her hands to the back of Evie’s head and slid her fingers through her hair, grabbing and giving in to her ministrations, accepting what Evie already knew: she was helpless when it came to Evie. There was no point in denying.

Truly helpless.

* * *

When Evie woke up the next morning, Mal had her arm draped over her middle. She smiled sleepily, for the first time in years - no, actual decades - feeling truly content and relaxed. Mal unconsciously pulled her closer than before, their bodies pressed together. Evie ran her brown eyes across Mal’s peaceful expression and brushed back a lock of hair softly, barely letting her fingertips brush against her skin. The affectionate action broke her trance and she cursed at herself, mad that she’d let herself get in so deep with the woman before her. She carefully leaves the bed, trying not to wake the blonde, and once she’s out of reach, Mal turns and mumbles something in her sleep. Evie gulped when her eyes took in the sight of Mal’s bruised back and she shakes her head as she walks towards her bathroom to freshen up.

As she showers and the water washes away the night, Evie begins feeling the usual weight press against her chest and her shoulders, bringing her down from her peaceful high now that she was more alert and conscious. For once in her existence, Evie embraced that feeling; for once in her existence, the weight on her spirit was brought by something good. Something blissful, that Evie would hold on to until it was all said and done. That Evie would carry with her for years and centuries to come. She’d never felt so cared for. It would make it all the much harder, but at least she’d given herself that moment.

It was time for her to move on.

Evie got out of the shower, dried herself off and threw in her clothes for the day, walking out of the bathroom and into her room to find Mal still asleep on her bed. She walks towards the blonde woman and lightly caresses her face with the back of her fingers, so many emotions running through her that it was hard to breathe. 

_ It would be so easy... _

But why did it feel this hard?

Evie brings her hand back like she’d been burned once her mind readily responds to her own question, and her eyes are still haunted when Mal finds her in the kitchen much later.

Evie inhales, counts to five, and then exhales. 

_ It should’ve been so easy. _

* * *

When Mal walks into the kitchen, she knows she’s made her decision in the back of her mind, but at the same time, the pang of guilt and regret and something more in her gut at the thought of causing Evie any harm ate away at her insides and made her not want to acknowledge her decision. But she knew in the end it would be hopeless; she knew it was all or nothing.

She had a plan in her mind, she knew exactly what to do, she knew what she would be walking in once she left the safety of Evie’s bed -- there was no way to push it back any longer. 

Whatever she felt for Evie wasn’t important now. When Mal walks into the kitchen, Evie doesn’t move from her spot on the stool, but she still throws a flirty greeting at Mal when she notices her. Mal doesn’t respond, her expression blank and somewhat determined, and Evie realizes that Mal has caught on to what Evie already knew. Evie watches as Mal moves quietly in her kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and taking a big gulp of it. She couldn’t let Mal beat her to it; wouldn’t let her. She waits for Mal to set the glass down on the counter and open her mouth before she backs her into the wall a few steps away from the counter. Her arm across her collarbone kept her in place, her eyes warned her not to resist. 

“I know your secret,” She sing-songs, almost manic, her tone threatening and sending a chill down Mal’s spine. There’s a coldness to Evie’s expression and in her eyes that scare and sadden Mal all at once. The blonde wasn’t surprised -- she knew Evie would eventually put two and two together; knew, even, that Jane had probably looked into her background for her. She didn’t doubt that Evie would eventually figure it out. She just made sure to prepare herself for when the time came.

“I know you do,” Mal answers honestly, her tone even. She’s almost proud of herself for not breaking under Evie’s gaze.

“At least you’re smart,” she mocked, her tone detached and cold. So different from the tone she used with her the prior night.

“Why haven’t you done anything about it?” Mal questions, “I know you’ve known for a while. Why didn’t you do anything? Why would you still have me around?” Mal presses, her detective mode kicking in. Evie sneers and pushes Mal further back on the wall.

“Don’t you, for even a second, think I care about you,” She spits, “You’re nothing. I was waiting for the right moment and I knew I could have some fun with you before I got bored of waiting,” She says, her tone cutting away at Mal more than her teeth ever could. “And finally, the waiting has come to an end.”

Evie releases Mal, then, and walks towards the kitchen counter to grab at the water glass the blonde had left behind. She grabs it and walks towards her, handing it to her as she watches Mal take in deep breaths, her face flushed from Evie stopping her from breathing properly and freely. “You’re probably wondering in that pretty little head of yours why you’re still alive,” Evie continues, getting a sadistic kick out of watching Mal struggle to breathe, “I admit, I was a bit indecisive at first. I just don’t know what I want, you see. Do I want to show you mercy and make it quick,” she trails off, her tone husky as she walks towards Mal slowly, eyes threatening, “or do I drag it out until you can’t take it anymore? I know you like it when I treat you like the helpless prey you are, M.” Evie gives her a grin, her impossibly white teeth gleaming against the light.

Mal hates that even when she’s being hurt she can’t help but think that Evie is beautiful. 

“Enough, Evie,” Mal snaps, finally, frustrated, “We both know that this is pointless and stupid.”

“I agree, but what fun would it be if I didn’t add a dramatic flair to it?” Evie smirked, and Mal rolls her eyes. Evie’s eyes are empty and expressionless as she advances towards Mal, and the blonde acts on instinct and hurls the glass cup in her hands at Evie. The brunette is quick to deflect it, though, and with a swift movement of her arms she sends it smashing to the floor. She doesn’t blink at the sound of the glass breaking but Mal winces, and Evie takes Mal’s distraction to her benefit and throws herself at her, slamming Mal’s back on the wall again. The blonde screams at the sharp pain and Evie smirks, her long arm reaching for one of the kitchen knives just to her right and holding it against Mal’s neck. 

Unnecessary, but  _ oh, so much fun.  _

“If I were you, I wouldn’t move, detective,” she warns, pressing the knife against the woman’s pale neck harder enough to draw blood. Mal gulps, and the action makes a drop of blood run down her pale neck. Evie’s eyes follow the motion and Mal’s brain comes up with the next set of words.

“You’re bluffing,” She gasps out, “You wouldn’t kill me. You _ can’t  _ kill me.” 

Mal manages to smirk in victory at the rage that covers Evie’s face at that, “You sure about that?” Evie asks. When Mal’s smirk grow wider, Evie’s rage becomes stronger and before she knows it, Evie’s digging the knife deeper in her neck and Mal grits her teeth against the pain, her arm shaking as she tries to keep it from piercing her completely. 

She knew there was some restraint to it. She knew Evie was stronger, faster, more powerful than her. She knew if Evie truly wanted her dead, she would’ve been dead for minutes, now. So she presses on.

“Evie, stop this. You don’t want to do this,” She pleaded, watching as her eyes flashed. “Please.”

“Don’t try that bullshit on me,” Evie spits, her eyes fiery in a rage Mal had never seen before, “I told you. You mean nothing to me. You’re just like the others, only difference is you’re a woman.”

That last sentence seems to surprise Evie, as if she had only realized it at that moment. Mal takes her hesitation as an opening.

“Would it have been better if I was a man?” She questions. 

Evie doesn’t answer her straight away, her eyes glazed over as she unconsciously takes Mal’s words into consideration. 

“We wouldn’t be in this position had you been a man,” she responds finally.

“Why?” Mal inquires, and Evie growls. “Don’t I at least deserve to know?”

“You don’t deserve shit,” Evie snaps, frustrated at Mal for making her think of her past. She did  _ not  _ like thinking about her past. She didn’t need to think about it. She  _ needed _ to kill Mal. She needed to get this over with. 

_ It hurt. God, it hurt. _

“That guy you killed. The men you killed,” Mal added as an afterthought, “What did they do to deserve it?  _ Did _ they deserve it?” Mal inquired, feeling the adrenaline mixed with curiosity burning in her veins. 

“So many fucking questions,” Evie groaned, annoyed, “They all deserved it. Every single one of them. In every city, in every decade, in  _ every. single. fucking. place. _ They all deserved it. All of them are the same,” She spits out, her brain completely enraged and bordering madness. She chuckles darkly in Mal’s ear, her nose running up and down her jawline, the smell of the blonde’s blood almost strong enough to break her self control.

“Stop it,” Mal gasps, her voice mixed with fear, disgust, hatred and arousal. She hated herself for feeling the way she felt towards Evie and reacting to her the way she did. It disgusted her. It enraged her.

“Stop what, baby girl? Teasing the killing? Or just the teasing?” Evie mocks, her tone husky and velvety and everything Mal  _ hated, hated, hated.  _ She knew Evie wanted her, she knew Evie felt something for her. She knew it wasn’t unrequited. All she had to do was press harder, to insist, to  _ see _ Evie for what she didn’t let on.

“I know you don’t want this, Evie,” Mal presses, “After last night, I know… I’ve seen it. I felt it. You were vulnerable.”

Evie’s grip on her neck loosens just a bit, and Mal knows she was right to press on. 

“You know nothing about me or what I want, don’t fool yourself,” Evie says, but her tone isn’t the same as it had been moments earlier, “You can convince yourself that it was more than an easy fuck for me, you can convince yourself that I was vulnerable, I don’t really care. But don’t you fucking say you know what I want and what I feel,” Evie spat, denial and venom coloring her voice in a way Mal knew she was on the right track.

“Is that why you let me top you?” Mal asks, teasing, taunting, challenging. Evie’s eyes flare in anger and something else, and in that moment Mal knew that she was getting under Evie’s skin. She knew Evie liked it when Mal defied her. She knew Evie liked it when she fought back. 

“I fucking hate you with every fiber of my being,” Evie growled, her hand itching to just bury the knife on her neck. 

_ (It starts with a burning sensation on her fingertips.) _

_ Just do it. End it. A little push, a little more force - _

“I know you do,” Mal says, the small smile being betrayed by the sad, hard look her green eyes give Evie, “You hate me because of what I made you feel. You hate me for ruining your plans. I hate myself for it as well, but not as much as I hate you for doing the same thing to me in return.” Mal confesses, her gaze never leaving Evie’s, “But most of all, I hate this situation,” she finishes in almost a whisper. That’s enough to make it. 

Mal feels the pressure of the knife against her chest get harder for a split second before it gets softer until she doesn’t feel it anymore, and the sharp pain on her neck and collarbones is replaced by the soft touch of Evie’s cold tanned hand against the skin of her face. Evie waits a moment before she lowers the knife from the place against Mal’s neck and Mal takes it as her opening to bring one of her arms to Evie’s lower back and her other arm to lead her hand to the back of Evie’s head, her fingers tangling themselves in Evie’s dark wavy locks and pulling her towards her until their bodies are pressed together. Their lips meet, and Mal doesn’t hesitate to deepen in, kissing her with passion and so much feeling that she didn’t know what to do with herself. Mal holds her close and returns her kiss with equal fervor, pulling away from her lips after a moment and pressing her forehead against Evie’s. A teardrop falls from her cheekbones and meets Evie’s tanned skin, almost as if she had been letting them out herself had she been capable of such a thing.

“Please, Evie,” Mal pleads once again, “There has to be some other way… I won’t tell.”

Evie gives her a sad smile, wiping a tear away from Mal’s eyes as she leans forward to kiss her once more, her mind made up. 

A sharp pain at her leg caused Mal to yank away from their kiss. Evie had stabbed Mal on her thigh, deep enough to incapacitate her from following her but not enough that it would cause serious damage. Her hand rested on the handle as Mal curved in pain, and when the blonde looked up at her Evie met her frown with sad eyes and emotionless features. She didn’t smile, she didn’t cry. 

She showed her mercy.

_ (It feels like being thrown in the fire. It burns. It spreads all over her body and it weighs her down.) _

“E,” Mal tries again, and Evie leans forward and presses a long kiss to her temple, tasting the salty tears and almost hearing the sound of Mal’s heart breaking along with her own. The look she gives her when she pulls away is almost apologetic. She can’t speak out, can’t voice her regret when she doesn’t have it. When she doesn’t mean it. She begins to back away, and Mal doesn’t try to reach for her. Her heart longed for her to do so, but she knew it would be helpless. Her crying became more intense, then, and the sound of a door closing makes her breakdown, a product of every single emotion she could possibly name bringing her to tears. 

She’d succeeded in her plan. She’d done it. 

_ But why did it feel so much like failure? _

* * *

Mal was praised for her hard work. She didn’t think she deserved it and didn’t relish in it like she once fantasized she would, feeling like an absolute failure to the case, even if she did have enough evidence to support her claims that the brunette woman had been guilty of the killings. Evie had escaped - hell, there was no way they could’ve ever had caught her. Mal did good on her promise -- she left the extremely pertinent detail out of her report. She kept Evie’s secret safe, and in turn, Evie kept away.

And Mal tried finding her -- she did. She’d even contacted Jane, but the woman had ignored her calls. She was sure Jane knew where Evie was, but she knew that she most likely wouldn’t tell her. All of her searches came up empty, as if Evie had simply vanished out of thin air. Mal was more than aware that Evie would only be found once she wanted to be found.

Evie was one of the most wanted criminals in Auradon and in the country, and Mal was pretty impressed with her talent to keep hidden for so long -- well, she guesses she shouldn’t be, really. Considering…

She barely thinks of Evie. Well, that’s not exactly true. She avoids thinking of Evie. And she’s pretty successful for the past month until one day she gets home from work and her window is open, when she knows for a fact she had closed it in the morning because of the storm outside. There’s an envelope stuck to the glass with her name written on it in neat handwriting, and the blonde lets out a sharp breath before she walks towards it and grabs it, her eyes running over the street below her and coming up empty. Her eyes fall back on the white paper on her hands and she sighs, mentally counting to five before she opened it and removed the letter from inside it. 

Her hands shook as she unfolded the letter, and her breath caught in her throat at the very first letter at the top of the paper. She took a deep breath and tried again.

_ M, _

_ There’s something about letters that I like. It feels nostalgic, feels like time has never truly passed, even though I know that’s not true. It has a dramatic flair to it -- you know, I like it when it has a little drama.  _

_ I would wish you well but I know that would be pointless, as things usually don’t come out the way I want them to. I don’t know why I’m writing this letter, I just know I’ve been confused and empty and things hurt way more than they ever did -- which is pretty alarming in itself. I guess what I’m trying to say is I miss you. I don’t know. I miss my old house, too. I didn’t like it before you. _

_ Jane told me you’ve been calling and looking for me. Don’t. She won’t tell you where I am because she doesn’t know. I see her from time to time, but I never give her any details because I don’t want to compromise her, not when she’s finally building her flower shop. Please, please leave Jane out of it. Don’t drag her into this.  _

_ Oh, what else? Oh, yeah. Thanks for keeping my secret. That was nice of you. I guess people would’ve assumed you’d been doing hard drugs anyway, so I guess it was a win-win situation. It’s okay either way. It’s just a little inconvenient that people are now looking for me everywhere. Doesn’t stop me from doing what I want to, but still. It’s annoying. But I guess that’s okay if that means you’re doing okay. _

_ That brings me to my point.  _

_ You might be looking for me because of whatever emotional, feelings related reason, and don’t even try to deny it because you know I want you to find me for the same reason. I hope you find me before I come to you - notice how I don’t say find you, because as you may have noticed, I know exactly where you are. Isn’t that fun? -, because the moment we meet again out of my own volition, it won’t end well for you this time. I may have spared you once, but it won’t happen again. Not only do you know too much about me and what I am, you also interfere with my decisions and thoughts way too much. I don’t know how much longer I can take of this.  _

_ So. We will meet again. I hope your leg is fully healed by then. I’ve noticed how you’ve been limping whenever you walk. It’s kind of funny in a sad way. I’m looking forward to seeing you and having you see me in return again. (Get it? Because I’ve been watching you from afar.) _

_ Forever yours and never out of reach, _

_ E. _

_ PS. Look behind you. _

_ PPS. Made you look. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew girl... 
> 
> comments make me happy :) let me know how much this sucked LMFAO.
> 
> See yall for part 3 soon xx


	3. meet me on the equinox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda hate it, kinda love it.

_ It took her a lot of planning and calculating. There was no room for mistakes; she’d get one chance, one night, and it would be it. If she failed, she knew things would get worse. She knew that one little mistake could make or break it. _

_ So she waited. Watched. Learned. It took her years; years of playing the part, years of pretending to be the happy wife, of being the goddess pure of heart that people made her to be. She played along, let them have their moment. Let him have his moment.  _

_ The preparations weren’t hard to make once she knew what she’d have to do. Once she knew what she needed, looking for them and knowing who to ask them to was easy, simple. _

_ The Facilier family were worshippers. Their younger daughter, Celia, had been one of Evie’s favorite people in their village. She’d been close friends with Evie’s little sister, Daisy, and Evie always liked the younger kids the best. She believed they were the truly purehearted ones; their admiration towards her wasn’t twisted, wasn’t filled with hidden intentions. It was pure, it was genuine. And she liked them, she protected them. She made sure they were the ones she kept away from the dangers she knew now the older men in their village could represent. She kept them away from _ **_him._ **

_ Celia’s family were healers. That’s the title they gave to the public. In secret, Evie knew what they truly were, knew of the witchcraft and the magic and spells and potions. She knew of it -- and she needed it.  _

_ So she gets Celia, the younger girl with the bright smile and the feisty attitude that had just turned fifteen summers old Evie admired so much to get her what she needed. Celia didn’t take long to supply her with enough of the vervain stash her family kept for protection against people like  _ **_him._ ** _ Celia looks fearful and concerned when she tells her the careful steps she needs to take with it so she, herself, wasn’t hurt. She’s close to tears when she tells her her family would supply her with whatever need and protection she needed after that night. When she told her they had her back.  _

_ The stake isn’t hard to get, either. What was hard, and Evie would argue was the hardest part of it all, was earn his trust. What was hard were all the steps she had to take until she knew he trusted her.  _

_ Her preparations were set when he walks into their -- no, not theirs. His -- house, shedding his suit and loosing his tie. He runs a tanned hand through his face in show of exhaustion, and Evie watches him from her place at the last step of the staircase, her hand on one of the golden - real, pure - handles.  _

_ “Hard day, my love?” She asks, playing the part of the concerned housewife. Of the caring, sweet goddess they believed her to be. Internally, her stomach twists at the use of the term of endearment and she feels herself balling her hand into a fist for a small second before she catches herself.  _

_ “I handled it,” he answers, unbuttoning the wrists of his long sleeve. Evie hated the way he dressed -- so pompous, so graceful. A mockery of the monster Evie knew him to be. Of the monster he’d made her into without her consent. _

_ “Your drink is at the table,” Evie tells him, motioning with her free hand, “Gil brought a new bottle of your favorite earlier today. It’s already prepared.” _

_ “Thank you,” He gives her a smile, advancing towards her in graceful steps and stopping before her, looking up at her as she stayed right where she was, her hand gripping the staircase handle. “You look wonderful today, diosa.” _

_ Evie tries not to flinch at the word. Instead, she forces a grateful smile and he seems to believe it. He takes her free hand in his and take it to his lips, dropping a reverent kiss to the back of it. Evie watches the action with suppressed anger and disgust -- she’s always hated it when the Leaders did it. But somehow, she hates it even more when he does it.  _

_ (Maybe it’s because he’s imprisoned her. Maybe it’s because she’s been forced into a marriage with him. Maybe.) _ _   
_

_ She forces another smile and waits for him to pull away. Once he does, he turns to make his way to the dining room where Evie had made sure the dinner was served. There was no need for it -- after all, food didn’t matter. Alcohol didn’t matter. But she guessed he liked the theatrics of it. The costumes. The tradition.  _

_ He was always big on traditions. _

_ He sits on one end of the table where the drink Evie had mentioned was set at, next to a plate full of food they both knew he wouldn’t eat.  _

_ (The image of the villagers starving, giving their food to her, to the Leaders, to  _ **_him._ ** _ Evie hates him fiercely. Evie hates Them. Evie hates.) _

_ Evie sits on the other end of the table, her eyes expressionless and face blank as she watches him take the drink in his hand and take a whiff of it. He frowns, probably catching the scent of something different, something that wasn’t ordinary.  _

_ (He was always big on traditions.) _

_ He looks at Evie, searching, studying. When her face is serene, when he doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary, when he decides he trusts her -- he takes a big gulp. He’s always liked his alcohol, it didn’t have any effects on him in this life, but the taste was familiar -- it was comforting, somehow.  _

_ (A creature of habit.) _

_ This drink, however, didn’t taste familiar. It wasn’t comforting. On the contrary -- it burned his insides, it started with the all too familiar burning sensation until it was heightened, until it was spreading through his entire body and slowing his breathing, making it difficult for him to feel anything else past the fire. His flawless vision turns hazy, unfocused, and Evie watches with a small smirk as he leans over the table, heaving and trying to catch his breath.  _

_ (Something about it feels therapeutic.) _

_ She pushes the chair back, making sure that it ruined the clear, pristine, shiny floor he was so proud of. She walks towards the corner of the room where she had hidden the long wooden stake Gil had brought her along with the drink, and once she has it in hands she makes her way towards the heaving man.  _

_ “Oh, my love, you don’t know what joy this brings me,” Evie says, her tone sultry and cold. He doesn’t pay her any mind -- he’s unable to, even if he wanted. In midst of the burning and the pain and the haziness inside of him, he feels a slight pressure on his shoulder, and then there’s a sharp pain and then there’s just darkness. _

_ Evie pushes the stake deeper on his back, deeper, deeper, deeper -- she slides her hand to the front of his chest, his perfect, expensive blouse ruined with his blood, and when she feels a slight bump against the skin, she smiles. Curling her fingers, she adds slight pressure and then -- and then she feels his heart in her hand. Her smile becomes a smirk as she pulls her hand out, and with it his heart, and she watches in satisfaction as his body desiccates, his once tanned skin turning grey, his veins exposing themselves all throughout his body.  _

_ It’s a beautiful sight, really. _

_ Evie sets the bloody heart on top of the table, grabs a knife from the side of the untouched plate of food and sinks the blade inside the organ, finding the motion almost cathartic.  _

_ Freeing.  _

_ With a newfound surge of energy and power, Evie walks out of the dining room, leaving the pierced bloody heart on top of the expensive wooden table and the dried corpse of her hateful, now late husband behind. She makes a straight line towards the front door and her hand all but shakes as she takes hold of the doorknob -- Evie didn’t know how long it’d been since she’d left this house unaccompanied. She didn’t know how long it’d been since the last time she left this house for any other reason than being forced to go to the temple and subject herself to hours of people giving her undeserved worshipping of a spirit she knew wasn’t pure.  _

_ Her steps are confident and determined as she makes her way towards the home of one of the Leaders -- her second victim of the night. The second of many. She wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t rest, until the very last one of the men who made her into the monster she is, who forced her into this life and who stood by and watched, was dead. _

_ (It all starts with a burning sensation.) _

_ All of her life she’d been the property of men.  _

_ (It spreads through her whole body until it’s all she feels.) _

_ That would end tonight. _

* * *

He sat back on the cushioned seat of the dimly lit bar, his eyes on the woman across from him, sitting alone on the other booth and drinking all by herself.

He’d seen her walk in and had decided to watch her -- maybe she could end up being his dinner for the night. He wasn’t necessarily hungry -- how could he? He’d fed from a grieving widow only the prior night. Left her body in her car in an abandoned parking lot to be found by the police. The least he could do was give her the chance to a respectable funeral. 

So no, he wasn’t exactly hungry -- for blood, at least. He couldn’t say he didn’t have a hunger for the hunt, a knack for the theatrics and the drama that came with getting his victims. Lonely women were always the easiest ones, in his eyes. Something about him, about his charms and his smile made them trust him almost instantly. He found that he barely had to use manipulation with some of his victims. It didn’t stop him from using them, but still. 

The bar was on a somewhat deserted area of the city, especially at night. It wasn’t crowded, and most of the people here were probably people who had been upset to find out that the diner across the street didn’t serve steaks anymore. 

He watched as the woman finally stood, leaving crumpled bills on top of the table as she did so and he waited for her to leave the bar before he stood up to follow. The woman had long, light blonde hair and her features told him that she’d had a few decades under her belt. She was stumbling slightly as she made her way to her car, a nice, expensive looking vehicle that he wouldn’t mind driving until he found something else. The woman reeks of alcohol, even from when he stands a good few steps away from her, and her walk is of an inebriated woman. She lights a cigarette and he frowns. He always hates the smokers -- their blood usually tastes foul. But unfortunately, he’d already committed to her. It was disappointing. 

She struggles to get her keys in her pocket as she stands beside the driver’s seat and he takes it as his cue. He couldn’t be long -- he had plans later.

He taps her on the shoulder.

* * *

**_A YEAR LATER_ **

“They’re here,” is the first thing Mal tells Audrey when she leaves the bathroom. The dark haired woman rolls her eyes but nods, knowing it wouldn’t do much difference if she tried to be difficult now. 

The blonde feels bad for her; she’s always known Audrey had feelings for their friend, and she knows, maybe more than anyone else, how much it hurt to have feelings for someone you couldn’t be with. There’s a knock on the door of her apartment and the blonde sends her friend one more look before she makes her way to greet Uma and Harry. 

Audrey throws herself on the couch and turns up the volume of the news on Mal’s television when she hears the sounds of Mal greeting Uma and her boyfriend.

Audrey doesn’t know why she doesn’t like Harry. Well, she does. Kinda. It’s not that he’s a bad boyfriend -- far from the truth, honestly. He’s a gentleman, as far as they knew and have seen, and he treats Uma greatly. There’s just something about him… there’s something about the energy around him that Audrey doesn’t quite like. And it was pretty instant, actually. The moment she had held his hand when they were introduced to each other almost six months ago she had felt it. A coldness and dark energy about him, that spread through her arm and made her drop his hand as if she’d been burned. It was something she had never quite felt before and it scared her. 

Mal thinks she’s jealous. She’s not. Well.

Maybe a little. But her feelings for Uma are not the only reason why she recoils whenever she sees the man. Honestly, they’re not. She wishes they were, because it would be way easier to push them back and ignore. 

Harry walks into the room and gives her a small smile while Uma walks towards the couch and throws herself on top of Audrey. 

“You’re suffocating me,” Audrey groans, joking, and Uma’s laughter makes her smile against the other girl’s hair. 

“I missed you,” Uma responds, her arms gripping her tighter. Audrey’s smile gets wider. 

“Missed you too,” she says, her tone soft, “How’s work been? Mal tells me it’s been a pain.”

Uma pulls away and rolls her eyes as she sits back. From the corner of her eye, Audrey sees Harry sitting down by the kitchen counter behind the couch. “Pain is not enough to describe it, honestly.” 

“You can see it for yourself,” Mal speaks up, circling the couch with her glass of wine in one hand and the other reaching for the remote and taking the volume out of mute. Audrey turns her attention to the flat screen and her eyes meet the 8PM newscaster of Auradon describing the newest case that’s been the cause of many of Mal’s headaches. 

Uma winced and Mal’s lips instantly formed into a defeated pout as she watched the anchor drag the ACPD’s name through the mud after them letting Evie Grimhilde escape and, by consequence and maybe a fear instigated unprofessionalism, tying her name to the current killer that had been terrorizing the city again after a small break of a few months after Evie’s disappearance.

“The motifs aren't even the same,” Uma says with a scoff, “They literally have no clue what they’re talking about. That can’t be Evie’s doing, unless she changed her whole thing after the undercover fiasco. No offense, Mal.”

“None taken,” Mal raises her glass to her lips and takes a sip, “I know what you mean. It’s obvious that it’s not the same person, anyway. Evie was more… graceful than that. And her main targets weren’t women.” 

“Right,” Uma nods, and then she sighs, “Whoever this killer is, they’re… lazy. No, not lazy, that’s not the word I’m looking for…” 

“Sloppy?” Harry offers from behind them, his hand spinning a cork from the wine bottle through his fingers.

“Yes! That’s it,” Uma nods, “Sloppy. Messy.”

“Evie could be messy, but she was calculating,” Mal reminisced, her tone turning distant and guarded. Audrey hated when Mal got like that. “The scene of the crime was always tidy. Well, there was never a scene, to begin with.” 

“Which is already an extreme opposite to whomever this Lady Killer is. The bodies are always completely mangled and each crime scene has more blood than the last one,” Uma finishes.  

“Do you guys have any leads?” Audrey asks, curious. She knew Uma and Mal couldn’t really discuss these cases with other people, but the girls always made an exception when it was Audrey. She loved having the first hand information to things.

“None at all,” Mal groans, “It’s so frustrating.”

“I can imagine,” Audrey says softly, “I wouldn’t be able to do what you guys do, honestly. Just from hearing it I’m already overwhelmed.”

Uma gives her a smile and lays her head on top of her shoulder and Audrey rubs her back softly as they watch the news anchor segue into another topic. Mal watches the change of colors on her television with absent eyes, her mind steering into territories that were becoming more and more familiar since the first appearance of the so-called “Lady Killer”.

She knew that her friends were concerned about her involvement with the case, especially after the undercover fiasco that had taken place the prior year. She tries not to think or talk too much about Evie, and Audrey or Uma still didn’t know the full story -- they had no idea about what had happened between Mal and the murderous woman. And Mal tried her hardest to move on with her life and act as if she was over it, but she knew it deep down that it was far from the truth -- she was still angry at herself for failing the case and even angry that Evie had gotten away with it (after all, how could’ve Mal ever brought Evie to justice when the woman was what she was? It was a failed mission from the get go.)

Mal brings her hand to her scar on her neck and lets her fingertips brush over it softly, almost as if comforting herself. She wondered if it would take Evie much longer to make good on her threat and just get all of this over with. Lately, she’d been thinking about Evie a lot. She can’t not -- with this new killer, Evie’s name is always the one to be brought up in conversations. And Mal can’t help but wonder: where she is, how she is, if she’s killed anyone else (which, you know, was very likely), if she’s still in near vicinity, if she misses her, if, if, if. Concerns that sometimes (most times) weren’t exactly case-related.

The news anchor wishes them a good night, Harry takes it as his cue to ask about dinner and Mal pretends she doesn’t notice it when Audrey flinches at the sound of his voice.

* * *

She picked up her phone on the second ring.

_ “Are you back in Auradon?”  _ Chad asks her in french as soon as the line connects, and the brunette frowns from where she’s sitting by the desk in front of the window, hard at work with her new design. The sounds in the background on Chad’s end tell Evie that he’s in a public space, hence the french.

“No,” She responds, “I’m still in France. Why?”

_ “At my place?”  _ He asks, and by the sound of his voice Evie can imagine him walking down the streets to look for a private place. His tone sounds calculating, and Evie puts her pencil down. When Evie hums her confirmation, he cusses, _ “Oh, that’s interesting, then.” _

“Why? What’s happening?”

“Someone’s trying to get your attention,” Chad says, this time in english. The background noise has stopped, so Evie figures he’s probably found somewhere private to talk. 

“What do you mean?” Evie asks, confused.

“I mean that it’s been an hour since I left the Auradon City airport and I’ve already had three conversations with people and saw a handful of warnings about a serial killer on the loose again,” Chad says, “They’re calling whoever this is the Lady Killer, because their main victims are women. Older women. That’s why I thought to call first.”

“I don’t kill women.”

“I know, Evie.  _ You _ don’t.”

Evie licks her lips, “So… do they have any leads?”

“Not that I know so far, but…” He trails off.

Evie raises an eyebrow, “But?”

“I have a hunch.”

“I’m listening.” Evie responds promptly. 

Chad doesn’t wait too long to share his feelings, and the second the name leaves the man’s mouth is the same second Evie stands from the chair she’d been sitting on.

“I’ll be there soon.”

* * *

“I’ll literally run you over with my car,” Mal sighs out. Uma pauses her drumming and smirks.

“Right in front of the police station?” Uma laughs.

“It has less to do with me getting away with it and more to do with you dying.”

“That’s really rude,” Uma states after a moment, her amused eyes betraying the serious tone she’d adopted.

“Well, I’m really rude.” 

There’s a moment of silence between the two women until Uma breaks it.

“Is it really okay for you to be on this case?” Uma asks, her tone almost soft, “I mean, considering…”

“Yeah,” Mal says, and then she clears her throat, “It’s a bit weird, and a little frustrating, but… it is what it is. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Uma asks, “Because Audrey and I are worried about you.”

“I’m okay,” Mal forces a smile. Uma seems to buy it, or if she doesn’t, she decides to leave it at that. They’re in silence for another moment as they watch the movement on the street outside the car and then Uma breaks it again.

“If it ever gets too much…” She trails off. She knows she doesn’t need to finish her sentence. Mal and her had known each other for long enough for both of them to know exactly what she wanted to say.

The blonde nods and the smile she gives Uma this time is more genuine. “I will.”

Uma smiles back and nods, turning her eyes back to the street. “Good.”

* * *

Evie chuckled to herself as her eyes ran over the articles that Chad had showed her upon her arrival. A smirk appeared on her lips at the mention of the so called Lady Killer -- she didn’t exactly condone their actions or the name but found it rather amusing. One article mentioning Evie as the Lady Killer’s idol makes her laugh, and when she looks up at Chad she finds him shaking his head amusedly at her from where he sat on his reclining chair across from her.

“This adorable little killer,” Evie chuckles, almost elated, “If this really is her…”

“I’m almost sure,” Chad says, “These patterns are almost too familiar. Plus, you know, that very big hint…”

“Oh, definitely. First thing I noticed,” Evie agrees. She switches tabs and smiles, “She’s gotten a bit sloppy, she must be impatient.”

Chad snorts and Evie chuckles again. And then, she stops when her eyes catch sight for a little detail she had missed before. “This is a map, is it not?”

He frowns and walks towards her, sitting down beside her and looking at the laptop on his best friend’s lap. “What are you talking about?”

“These places,” Evie mumbles, her eyes calculating as she reads the article over and over again, “The crime scenes. They’re going one way, like they’re directions. See?”

“What does that mean, then?”

“I’m not sure yet,” She mumbles, and then she shakes her head, “I don’t even know if I’m right, I’m so hungry.”

“You didn’t feed before coming here?” Chad asks, his tone almost disapproving. Forgotten was anything else as Chad took in his best friend for the first time that night without the pressing issues of a potential old acquaintance trying to make contact with his friend looming over his head, “Jesus, Evie, when was the last time you had any blood at all?”

“Last week, I think. Some guy with a flat tire stopped just outside your house and I took the opportunity,” She shrugs. Chad studies the darkness under his friend’s eyes with a concerned look. They’ve known each other for years; decades, even. He could see things in Evie that she, herself, couldn’t sometimes. 

When Evie had called him all those months ago asking him if he still owned a place in a small village in France, there was no doubt in his mind that Evie had gotten herself in trouble with the law again. It’s happened a few times before, but this time, it’d been different. Chad was probably the only person that knew every side to Evie - the only person who knew her entire history, the person who she truly shared things with. And this time, Evie hadn’t shared anything. Hadn’t said anything. Chad had left her by herself almost two weeks after she’d gotten to France, realizing that maybe what Evie needed was some alone time to get herself back together.

He now wonders if that was a wise decision.

“What?”

“Nothing,” He shook his head, “So, do you want to go out and grab a bite?” he offers her a wink and Evie groans.

“Yes,” she agrees anyway, “and once we’re there we can talk about how you apparently went shopping inside my old house for your furniture.”

“You weren’t using it and the police stopped looking, so…” Chad shrugs, “plus, you know I always loved your taste for interior design.”

“I do know that,” Evie allows it and watches as Chad looks around his new home filled with Evie’s furniture and lets out a nostalgic sigh. It only really hit him at times like these how much he actually misses living with his best friend. It’s weird -- but then again, not really, considering who they are -- but he can’t help but be a bit glad that the so-called Lady Killer had brought them together under the same roof again. 

She smirks at him and stands from the couch, “Now, let’s go because I have a plan.”

Chad sighs and rolls his eyes good-naturedly, “Of course you do.”

Evie gives him a wicked wink.

* * *

**A WEEK LATER**

Mal threw her jacket on the back of the couch as she got home after work, a tired sigh escaping her lips as she allows her shoulders to fall in exhaustion now that she was home and alone.

Work was getting more stressful by the day -- not only were they still grasping at straws for new significant leads for the Lady Killer case, there had been two murders reported a few nights ago at a completely different location than they’d been expecting and very different from the Lady Killer’s usual -- it’d been more reminiscent of a prior killer, actually, and the thought of Evie being back sent conflicting feelings through Mal’s system. 

And along with those feelings, a sudden thought had dawned over Mal that she quite frankly felt silly for not considering before. It was possible that the Lady Killer’s entire schtick was so familiar to them, even if a little different. What if this new killer was the same… thing… as Evie? Then what? What could Mal possibly do to make this case end any differently than the impasse that Mal’s undercover case had turned out to be?

There was only one thing left for Mal to do, she feared. 

There was only one person that could possibly help her with this. 

She had to find Evie.

But how? She’d tried multiple times before and had come up empty. It was obvious that Evie wouldn’t be found until she  _ wanted  _ to be found.

Plus, the brunette knew where she was, and Mal guessed it was really only a matter of time before Evie came to her if she was really back. 

So she waited. 

* * *

And waited.

* * *

Mal adjusted the robe over her PJs as she waited for her water to boil, deciding to have a cup of tea before bed to see if she’d finally relax and get some better sleep for the first time in weeks. She wasn’t too hopeful, but she guessed it was worth the try. Audrey had gotten those special sleeping time teas for her a while ago, knowing about her friend’s stress levels rising due to work, and Mal hadn’t taken the opportunity to try them out until now.

She’s so taken with the million thoughts going on in her head that she fails to catch the soft shift in the air and the movement behind her.

“Oh, how I’ve missed this view,” comes the smooth voice that had haunted her every dream behind her and Mal jumps. She closes her eyes and clenches her teeth before she puts on a neutral expression and turns around to meet her green eyes with light brown ones for the first time in a little more than a year. 

Evie was as breathtaking as she remembered. 

“Surprise,” Evie says, her tone teasing, and there’s an almost frightening smirk on her face, “Are you happy to see me? Shocked?”

Mal wasn’t shocked. She knew this day would come -- hell, Evie had basically lovingly threatened her with it in her letter. 

Mal stays silent, and Evie pouts at the lack of response, “Now, Mal, cat get your tongue? Are you really this happy to see me that you’ve been rendered speechless?”

“So you’re really back,” Mal says finally, more to herself than to Evie. The brunette raises an eyebrow.

“Who said I left?”

“The lack of men disappearing in Auradon and the nearing states, for starters.”

“Mm,” Evie gives her an ironic smile, “And what gave it away that I was back?”

“The two men you left mangled in a gas station a few nights ago,” Mal responded promptly, her tone clipped. “That was sloppy, very unlike you. A clear message.”

“I was starving,” Evie pouts, “And eager to send you a message.”

“Well, the message was sent,” Mal states simply. 

Evie nods, her brown watchful eyes studying Mal closely, waiting. The glint of a knife on the corner of her eye got her attention, and Evie considered grabbing it to get things moving but decided against it at the last second. She wanted to know how much Mal knew and maybe tease her with her own knowledge before she did anything too drastic.

“I thought you’d be more excited to see me and talk about our adorable little Lady Killer problem together,” Evie says then, and Mal rolls her eyes and scoffs.

“How is it  _ your _ problem?” 

“Well, I read the comparisons. I don’t like them,” Evie frowns, and then with a smirk she continues, “Plus… I can see they’re driving you crazy. I don’t like that. Only  _ I _ can do that.”

Mal rolls her eyes again and exhales a deep breath through her nose, “Of course.”

“Plus, I’m imagining you’re wondering if I could help you, right?” Evie asks, her tone knowing, her eyes squinting in irony.

“Cut the bullshit, Evie.” Mal snaps. Evie smiles for a small second before it turns into a smirk. She’d missed this.

Silence fell over them as Evie waited for Mal to ask. The blonde grew impatient quickly, the lack of sleep and the stress catching up to her.

“Well?” She prompted. Evie chuckled and sauntered closer to the agitated blonde. Mal visibly tensed at the lack of distance between them and when Evie got too close she took a step back.

“Mal, are you _ scared _ of me?”

“Never,” Mal snaps, but there’s strain in her tone. They stare at each other for another minute before Evie takes another step, her movements slow. 

“Now, here’s my questioning…” Evie begins, “Why would you think I want to help you? That I’d agree to this? Just based on me being of the same species as your new killer?” Evie chuckles, mocking, “Oh, M. I thought you understood it when I told you what would happen when we saw each other again.”

Evie’s tone is somewhat teasing and serious at the same time, and something about it provokes Mal to stand her ground even when Evie stepped closer to her.

“You know I don’t care what happens to me,” Mal responds, her tone even, decided. Evie raises an eyebrow, “I don’t care if you kill me right after, as long as you help me. I can’t have another killer on the loose again. I can’t fail again.”

“Mm,” Evie hummed, “But what if I refuse to help you?”

Their faces were so close that they could feel each other’s breaths. The last time they had been this close, they had been going through a million of contradicting and conflicting emotions and feelings. Mal realized Evie smelled just as she remembered, and she realized that Evie hadn’t changed all that much. And because of that realization, the moment Evie grabbed the knife on the counter to her left and tried to swing it at her, Mal anticipated it and acted on instinct, moving out of the way swiftly. 

She flinched and barely got out a relieved breath before Evie grabbed her by the collar of her PJ shirt under her open robe and threw her back against the wall, one hand holding her in place as the other pressed the knife to her side.

“For a supernatural being with literal fangs, you sure do like your knives,” Mal noted. 

“Knives are a girl's best friend,” Evie shrugged, and then she raised an eyebrow as a grin tugged at her lips, “And… joking? At a time like this?”

“Learned from the best,” Mal joked again, trying to mask her unease. Evie didn’t buy it.

Evie studied her for a moment before her tone turned serious again, “Just because I won’t kill you on sight like I promised doesn’t mean I won’t ever do it.”

“Then why don’t you just do it?” Mal sighs, tired. “Either you help me, or you kill me. I can’t turn you in. I can’t defeat you. So, what’s the point? Why not just do it?”

Evie always found Mal’s defiance attractive. She liked it on any woman, but it was somewhat special when it was coming from Mal. She liked it that Mal pushed back. 

Evie lets go of Mal’s shirt and brings her hand up to Mal’s neck. She grips it tightly for a small second before she loosens it. There was a weird expression on Evie’s face for a slight second before she was back to her icy, cold default one. 

“I hate you so much,” She spits. Mal understands now the meaning behind the words. Confirms it when Evie’s lips crash against her own. She immediately responds, her body and soul yearning for it in a way she didn’t expect. Evie pushed her back again and broke their kiss, her full swollen lips hovering over Mal’s.

“Oh, what a shame, detective,” She taunts. 

“Shut up,” Mal mumbles against her lips, raising her hands to frame Evie’s face. It felt amazing to be able to touch Evie again. Evie snickered but leaned in, capturing her lips again. Evie kissed her in almost hunger, her lips deepening the kiss and dominating her with every movement. Mal tugged at Evie’s hair, getting a groan from Evie and managing to get her vulnerable enough so she could push her back and flip them so Evie was the one pressed to the wall. She was well aware that if Evie wanted -- or cared enough --, they’d be flipped back in no time, and she allows a small smirk when Evie remains in that position as they kiss again. 

She runs a hand down Evie’s side until she lifts her right leg and the brunette hooks it around her legs, making a small pressure to pull her closer to her. Mal presses her hips against Evie’s and groans into her mouth before Evie pulls away.

“I don’t know why I’m letting you top me,” She says, her tone bitter and breathy as ever.

“I don’t know why I want to top you,” Mal acknowledges. Evie chuckles against her lips in response and then her brown eyes turn calculating as she stares at Mal.

“Well, fuck it,” She curses with a shrug, realizing that there wasn’t much logic when it came down to the two of them. It just was. She drops the knife to the side and buries her hand in Mal’s hair, their lips connecting once again in a mix of hunger, passion and frustration. Mal rocks into her, her hands running over Evie’s chest before stopping at the waistband of her pants. She hesitates for a second as Evie begins to leave heated, open mouthed kisses on her jaw before she sneaks her hand into her pants, past her underwear and well over the very place Evie wanted her the most. Evie moaned lowly and her head fell back against the wall, her wavy, long brown hair falling disheveled over her shoulders and down her back.

Mal pressed hot kisses down Evie’s tanned neck before nipping at her shoulder, her fingers sliding in and out of Evie with ease. The brunette’s breath hitched and her back arched, her front pressing to Mal’s. The shorter woman worked slowly at bringing Evie to the edge, taking her time. She kissed the exposed skin of Evie’s shoulder and collarbone and then brought her eyes up to meet Evie’s. Her brown eyes were deep and warm with lust and something else Mal wasn’t sure she could identify, and she leaned in again and kissed her hard and sped up her movements, curling her fingers and bringing Evie to the edge quickly. A few more thrusts and Evie tensed out with a groan, soon followed by a sigh as she relaxed against the wall. 

Mal didn’t move away, remaining glued to Evie’s front and dropping kisses to Evie’s tanned skin. 

“Does it kill you that you’ll always want me?” Mal asks her in a whisper, her lips close to Evie’s ear. Evie’s icy stare meets hers, and the expression in her eyes warms and freezes Mal over.

“Does it kill you that you’ll never catch me?” She adds salt to the wound. Mal flinches but nods nonetheless.

“So, what are we gonna do?” She questions with a tired sigh.

“I’ll help you,” Evie answers simply.

“Really?” Mal questions, a bit surprised. When Evie nods, she squints, “What’s the catch?”

“We can discuss that later,” Evie shushes her, tanned hands tracing down Mal’s torso. 

Evie’s touch burned through the fabric of her clothes, and Mal shivered when Evie’s cold hands made contact with her warm skin underneath her clothes a moment later. Mal leaned into Evie when her long fingers found what they’d been looking for and met her with each stroke, her hips moving in time with Evie’s hand. 

Mal buried her face in Evie’s neck and breathed in her scent, gasping her name in almost reverence and by consequence making Evie scowl and push back the memory that threatened to make its way into her mind and ruin the moment.

_ (They used to call her goddess and pray to her and cry at her feet.) _

She hated the way she liked the way Mal wanted her for her.

_ (She hated how the sound of her name falling from Mal’s lips made her feel. She hated what it reminded her of. She hated. Evie hated.) _

She thrusts hard and Mal whimpers, stilling. Evie waits a moment before removing her fingers, a coldness spreading through her body as a result of the memory Mal’s gasp had unlocked. Mal stepped away, Evie doesn’t move. Her expression is guarded.

_ (Fire. There was a fire.) _

“Where can we work?” Mal asks, back to business. It sounded forced. 

“I’ll come find you,” Evie informs. She doesn’t plan on telling Mal where she’s staying. She can’t risk being seen in public. Evie feels numb when Mal fully disentangles from her. 

( _ The temple burned to the ground as she stood and watched.) _

Evie steps away from the wall and begins to walk towards the window, fixing her clothes as she did so. She was almost out when a thought struck her mind and she stopped, turning to Mal and smirking when Mal was surprised to see that the cold, teasing expression she had grown used to seeing on Evie’s face was back, her eyes unreadable as she asked her maybe one of the most surprising things that Mal had heard all evening.

“Would it bother you if the new killer wanted me?” She inquired, nonchalant, her smirk still in place. Mal knew she was being messed up. She knew what Evie was trying to do. She contemplated her answer, deciding whether or not she wanted to say the truth or flat out lie..

“No,” she says, finally. Evie chuckles and shakes her head.

“You’re a really bad liar, detective,” She states simply, her tone almost angelic as her smirk grows on her face. She turns away and climbs Mal’s window, jumping and disappearing into the night. 

_ (A beautiful sight, really.  _

_ Freeing.) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make me happy ♥ part 4 will be LONGER because it's the last part, so.... that might take a lil. Sorry folkssss.


	4. talk me down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, it took me some time but it's here. Thank you for all the wonderful feedback & for reading. This is the first time I've written something like this so I was really, really nervous about the whole thing and kept rethinking and overthinking every single little bit of it. But I've really pushed myself with this one and in the end I'm kinda happy with how it turned out, and I hope you will too. If anyone's interested, here's a list of a few of the songs that were a really huge source of inspiration for this part in specific if you're the kind of person that likes to listen to music while reading:
> 
> better off by ariana, nothing's gonna hurt you baby by cigarettes after sex, medicine by the 1975, heaven by troye, drive by aimee mann, lover please stay by nothing but thieves, when the night is over and the night we met by lord huron, better off without by armon jay, anyone who knows what love is by irma thomas and lastly, the title of this part, talk me down by troye. 
> 
> Now, on with the chapter!

_“It’s funny,” Evie says absentmindedly, her fingers playing with the golden curls that rested on the other woman’s pale bare back as she laid on her stomach, her chin resting on her forearms that were folded on top of a pillow as she heard to the song that played softly through the room from the record player, “I never noticed it before, but I think I rather like the blondes.”_

_CJ chuckles amusedly, her blue eyes remaining hidden behind her closed eyelids. Her makeup had definitely reached its expiration date for the day, the process of expiration hurried by certain activities she’d partaken in with Evie, and still Evie couldn’t help but think that CJ still looked like a heartbreaker._

_“I think you just like women,” the blonde replied after a moment, her voice smooth as ever._

_(In the future, Evie will think back to those nights and to CJ’s voice and decide that her voice and CJ herself held the classic beauty of the decade they met -- the soft, yet enticing and smooth air that surrounded CJ’s every step made her feel and look like she’d been made to exist in 1950’s Paris.)_

_“I think you’re right,” Evie smirked, her tanned hand reaching forward to the other woman’s endearing nose and tapping it once, “Very well observed.”_

_“It’s a talent,” CJ tells her, laughing. Her eyes crinkle up at the sides when she does and her pink full lips widen in a way that makes Evie’s brown eyes turn their attention to them, and before either know it, Evie’s leaning forward again. Their lips met in a kiss, and it wasn’t long before CJ was on her back again and reaching up to cup at both sides of Evie’s face as their lips moved together._

_Evie’s wavy brown hair fell over her shoulder, and the tips of her curls tickled at CJ’s collarbone while the brunette hovered over her. After a moment, Evie pulls back just slightly and her lips brush over CJ’s pink lips as she asks, “At what time is your brother expecting you?”_

_“I frankly don’t care,” is the answer, and Evie’s laughter dies against CJ’s lips when they meet again._

_CJ’s hand slips behind Evie’s neck and Evie begins rocking into her, groaning when the blonde’s hands move to her behind, guiding. Evie pulls away and CJ gazes up at her, blue eyes warm before she rolls them over and straddles Evie’s hips._

_Evie’s hands travel to either side of CJ’s hips and her brown eyes meet CJ’s blue ones and smiles. The blonde smiles back and leans down, tracing kisses on Evie’s tanned torso, her hands making their way down, caressing and stroking. Evie held CJ closer to her when the other woman’s fingers entered her, pumping and curling until CJ was moaning her name in her ear._

_Her hips jerked and her body shuddered before Evie let her rest her body on top of hers. CJ was panting heavily but still managed to capture the brunette’s lips in a kiss, her tongue slipping from her mouth when they broke apart. Evie sighed longingly, her brown eyes staring up at CJ, who only smiled in return, dropping small kisses on the corner of her mouth._

_Outside Evie’s hotel room window, the lights of Paris shone brightly in contrast with the dark sky._

* * *

“Evie?” Chad’s voice called behind her, breaking her staring contest with the yellowed polaroid picture from the early 90s she held in her hands. In the image, a smirking CJ stared back at her, her hands supporting her up as she leaned back on the bed in front of Evie. Her sunshine hair fell over her shoulders in waves and her legs were crossed at the ankles as she posed.

That had been the last time they’d seen each other.

They don’t really keep in touch; no, far from it, actually. They waited until they bumped into each other by chance to truly “catch up”, almost like a game. Sometimes, if they were in the same state or city or even country, they’d find ways to send messages to each other to let the other know they were near and thinking of them.

“Earth to Evie?” Chad waved his hand back and forth in front of his best friend’s face, his right eyebrow raised. Her brown eyes focused on him and Chad looked down at what she had in her hands. He chuckles, “Reminiscing?”

“Yeah,” Evie nodded, sliding the picture inside her jacket’s pocket.

“Are you going somewhere?” Chad asked curiously.

“Mhm,” Evie says, walking past him and calling out, “Don’t wait up.”

“I don’t sleep.” Chad’s voice calls behind her as usual, and Evie chuckles.

* * *

Mal’s not exactly shocked when she ends up waiting for Evie to show up at her place again for almost two weeks. Things with Evie always seemed calculated and thought over, and she was sure that this wasn’t any different. She doubted that Evie would show up to help her with the case without running over every possible detail beforehand.

Mal wonders if Jane’s still the one on Evie’s corner, helping her with her plans. Then, she shakes her head. It really doesn’t matter. Plus, she knows Evie will show up when she felt ready to. It didn’t matter who, what, or how she prepared beforehand, as long as she showed up.

In the days that she spent waiting for Evie’s appearance, she went over every evidence and leads that they’d manage to collect - it truly hadn’t been many, if any. Nothing was substantial, and Mal realized that maybe she needed Evie’s help a little more than she’d thought. She also realized that she’d have to come up with ways to keep the woman in check, not exactly keen on letting the brunette take over the case for whatever reason. She would’ve asked Uma, but her friend wasn’t aware of the special details about Evie, much less that the woman was back in the city.

Mal sighs and grabs her painkiller bottle from her cupboard, shaking a pill on the palm of her hand and swallowing it dry. Wincing at the feel of the pill sliding down her throat, she closes her eyes and exhales as she wills it to have a miracle effect on the shoulder pain she’d been feeling for the last few days after a particularly rough day at work.

She was about to pour herself a glass of water when her window slid up behind her. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she kept her focus on the transparent liquid filling up the tinted purple glass cup in her hand and Evie’s high heeled boots touched the floor with a small thud. Mal sent her a throwaway glance before she willed her eyes to turn back to her hands, willing them to stop shaking, even if subtly, and with that one look Mal had scanned Evie’s appearance.

Evie was a vision in black, from the boots adorning her feet that transitioned into tight black pants to the plain black t-shirt under the leather black jacket. Her brown hair tied up loosely with a few strands of hair framing her face and the dark circles under her eyes, very much not concealed by make up as Evie seemed to be not wearing any, made it the first time Mal had seen Evie look so casual outside of her own house. Even if she looked like she hadn’t slept -- or, well, fed -- in days, Mal found that she looked beautiful.

Mal sits on the couch without a word, her water in hand.

“No ‘hi’?” Evie asks, her tone teasing as she drops down beside her. Evie’s body is sideways so she’s turned to Mal, and one of her legs folds under the other as one of her tanned arms rest on the back of the couch, just a few centimeters above Mal’s head.

“Making yourself comfortable?” Mal asks, her green eyes trained on the glass of water in her hands, refusing to give Evie her attention.

“I feel right at home,” Evie replies, earning a grunt from Mal.

“You certainly took your time to show up,” Mal comments, tone a bit dry, and Evie’s smirk returns.

“I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not,” Evie states, leaning in and stealing a kiss from Mal. Before the blonde could respond, she moves away and stands up, “You deserved it for assuming I’d agree to help you so easily.”

“Thanks,” Mal says sarcastically, her green eyes watching as Evie walked towards the table on the corner of the room.

“Anytime,” Evie responds easily.

“You did end up agreeing, though, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t disappear for weeks again. I don’t really care what your reasonings were.”

“I didn’t agree for the reasons you’re hoping for,” Evie throws in as she sits on the edge of the table, her eyes studying Mal under the dim light.

“What reasons am I hoping for?” Mal questions, leaning forward to set the glass on her coffee table before she stands from the couch and walks towards her table. She stops a few steps away from Evie and pulls a folder towards her and rifles through it to gather what she needed.

“Whatever cute, sentimental, emotional stupid reasons you can come up with,” Evie answers, her tone bored. Mal doesn’t answer, her green eyes trained on the folder on top of the dark wooden table. She wasn’t going to dignify that with a response -- she knew Evie knew she was right, anyway. There had been some hope inside Mal, small enough to be part of her unconscious.

“To set it straight, I only care about stopping this asshole from killing innocent women,” Evie says, raising her hand to hold a strand of Mal’s platinum blonde hair in between her fingers, studying it as she continued, “If they’d been killing men, I wouldn’t have cared less. But unfortunately, I have my morals.”

“Is that really all it is?” Mal asks before she can help herself. Evie raises her brown eyes to meet Mal’s for a second before she lets go of her hair and drops her hand to her lap.

“Yeah,” Evie responds, leaning back. Mal nods once and turns her attention back to the folder on the table, decidedly trying not to let that hurt her feelings.

After a moment of silence, Mal slides the folder to Evie and the brunette picks it up, taking a peek inside before she looks at Mal with raised eyebrows.

“Is this really all of it?” She asks.

“Yup,” Mal nods. Evie shakes her head incredulously. The folder _really_ wasn’t much.

“Okay, well,” Evie hops off the table and walks towards Mal’s couch, throwing herself unceremoniously on it, “Let me go over it and then we’ll talk.”

Mal nods, but Evie isn’t looking at her anymore. She walks towards the kitchen counter and sits down on a stool, grabbing her phone and leaving Evie at it. She had a few new texts from Uma asking her about dinner that quickly sparked up into a conversation about what type of food they wanted to eat later that night.

“Uma’s coming over for dinner in an hour,” Mal announces after several minutes of silence, her eyes glued to her phone screen. Evie gets the message.

“You’re an awful host,” She comments. When Mal glances at her at that, she’s already smirking, “Rushing me out? Really? What if I wanted to spend the night?”

“Then you’re a terrible guest,” Mal responds with a shrug, and then she raises an eyebrow, “I didn’t think you wanted anything from me. Was I wrong to assume?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Evie responds at the taunt, her eyebrows furrowing at in frustration at herself for her loss of their banter. Mal turns her attention back to her phone with a smirk, amused despite herself. Evie’s eyes are on the papers in her hand again and they spend another few minutes in silence before Evie stands from the couch, circling the counter so she’s standing across from Mal and throwing the folder in front of the woman, the map of the city marked with the locations that the crimes took place on top of the pile.

“This is a map.” Evie states.

Mal blinks, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It doesn’t, and Evie rolls her eyes, “No, idiot. I _know_ it’s a map. What I mean is that these are directions.”

“Huh?”

Evie sighs and rolls her eyes before she leans forward and traces the red line with her finger, “This is a direction.”

“To where?” Mal frowns.

“Fuck if I know,” Evie sighs, her brown eyes trained on the map before her. Mal studies the map with the new perspective in mind and frowns after a moment as something dawns on her.

“The last one was really close by,” She comments absentmindedly. She doesn’t notice it when Evie’s watchful eyes on her adopt a certain glint at the confirmations of her suspicions. Mal shakes her head, as if to clear her thoughts, and then she looks up at Evie with curious eyes, “Why do you think they’re doing this?”

“It’s definitely someone like me,” Evie says, and when Mal opens her mouth, she clarifies, “Biologically speaking, if that’s even the right way to put it. You’re right in thinking this person isn’t human and the fact their victims are chosen at random doesn’t help either. At least I had the decency to give you all some significant leads.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it decency, but continue.”

“What I’m saying is this is definitely someone who knows what they’re doing. Someone who’s subtle but still keeps the drama alive to keep you guessing.”

Mal blinks.

“See, I didn’t care for subtlety. I could put on a show, but in the end it didn’t matter if I was found guilty or not. They’re doing this because they want to grow fame, to be found eventually in a big finale. There’s different agendas.”

Mal nods, “Okay… anything helpful to add?”

Evie rolls her eyes, “Why aren’t your brain cells working? I remembered you to be smarter than this.”

“I’m sorry, but this is just fucking insane,” Mal says, “Why did this person pick Auradon, of all places? Because of you?”

Evie shrugged once, “Maybe. Probably. They probably know I’m back, and they’re probably going crazy about it, too.”

“You sound entertained by this whole thing,” Mal notes bitterly. Evie smirks.

“Well, I am,” Evie says simply, “It’s fun to watch the jealousy drive you crazy because this person definitely is trying to connect with me by trying to pull my thing in the same city as I did not long ago.”

“That’s a stretch.” Mal raises her eyebrows.

“Is it though?” Evie taunts, “I thought I fucked the skeptical out of you.”

“Alright,” Mal slapped her hands on the counter, pushing her torso back from where she had unconsciously leaned in as Evie talked, clearly affected by the statement. Evie chuckles wickedly and watches as Mal shakes her head.

“You’re so predictable sometimes,” Evie states, circling around the counter and stopping behind Mal. She puts a hand on Mal’s hip, smirking when she tenses up, and leans over so her face is hovering over Mal’s shoulder and her lips are near her ear, “You can keep repressing it all you want, but you know you’re jealous. You’re jealous because you want me and it kills you that this person is trying to get my attention.”

Before Mal could say anything in response, Evie reaches up to turn her face towards her and takes her lips in a kiss.

“You say it like it’s one-sided. I know you feel something for me, too,” Mal says, her voice quiet. Evie’s satisfied smirk slides off her face automatically at that.

“Your assumptions will get you killed.” Evie states. It sounds like a warning.

“What if I don’t care?”

“Then you’re an idiot. You’re only hurting yourself.” Evie responds, backing away.

Mal was about to rebut when the sound of her phone ringing on the counter made her jump. Evie didn’t move, brown eyes staring deep into Mal’s, her face expressionless. Mal turned away from her gaze to grab her phone and she didn’t see it when Evie raised her eyebrows at the name on the screen of the incoming call.

Mal raised her phone to her ear, “Hey, Harry.”

 _“‘Ey, Mal. We’re oan our way, Uma’s askin’ if ye want ‘er tae bring some wine? Yer nae answerin’ tae texts.”_ Harry’s heavy scottish accent greets her on the other end of the call. Mal nods before she realizes he can’t see her. Behind her, unseen by Mal, Evie’s going through her own realizations.

“That’d be great, yeah.”

 _“‘Kay, be there in 10.”_ The line disconnects, and Mal allows herself a small amused smile at the guy. Harry was definitely a character.

Turning back to the woman on the room, her words die at the tip of her tongue when her eyes fall upon an empty room. She looks at the closed window that had previously been opened thanks to Evie’s arrival and sighs, allowing herself to relax in spite of her surprise at Evie leaving without a goodbye.

Mal was always so stressed and tense whenever the other woman was around; she never knew what the woman’s next move would be -- if she’d be jumped on or aggressively murdered. And it seemed like Evie was always at either end of a complete chaotic spectrum -- she pulled in and then pushed away and disappeared.  

Mal was never an optimist, so it confused her as where the feeling that Evie cared deep, deep down came from. She knew there was a good side to Evie -- there had to be. There had to be a way, no matter how small, that Evie had a side to her that Mal hadn’t yet reached, at least not in a significant way that shined through her snark and constant attitude.

Everything around Evie felt so difficult and complicated, Mal hated it.

She _hated_ it.

* * *

He has to admit, this has been taking a bit longer than he’d originally planned.

He guesses that was his own fault, really, for being too subtle -- but then again, what’s so subtle about serial killings? He really couldn’t tell you. After all the firsthand information he’s gotten over the past year since arriving to Auradon, he pins it on him not being obvious enough. Surely, had he acted the same way Evie had -- clearly and explicitly having public ties to her victims instead of picking at random --, they would’ve realized by now. He’s got them all fooled -- well, all except for one.

Audrey was never really keen on him. He hadn’t really counted on Uma and Mal having an empath on their side, even if unknowingly by all three parties.

 _Poor witch_ , Harry thinks, _has no idea she even possesses such powers. It’s a waste, really. And a bit hilarious._

Harry’s just about to walk into tonight’s bar to pick the night’s victim when he hears the sounds of steps in the alley behind him, heels against concrete, and he tenses.

“Well, this is disappointing,” a smooth voice comes behind him, confident as ever, and a smirk spreads across his lips before he turns around slowly.

“Well, well, well,” He draws out, “Fancy seein’ ye here.”

“Wish I could say the same,” Evie says with an ironic smile, “I was hoping it’d be your sister. You had me fooled for a second there, Hook.”

“And… scene,” He gives her a mock bow, his smirk infuriating at every second.

“Does CJ know you’re here? Why are you doing this?” Evie inquires.

“She doesn’t, an’ boredom,” He counts down on his fingers, his eyes widening in a manic way that Evie was all too familiar with. He continues with a grin, “I saw the news about ye when I was visitin’ CJ an’ she mentioned ye two’s wee game. Got a wee inspired an’ decided tae play a wee prank oan an auld friend. Hope ye don’t mind.”

“I do, asshole,” Evie glared, “Did you really think I’d find this amusing?”

“Aw, Evie, don’t be like ‘at. It’s all in good fun,” Harry pouted, failing to maintain his expression as his lips widen into a grin.

There was something about Harry’s smile that reminded Evie so much of CJ -- his eyes, too, even if the differences between the two siblings were obvious. There were familiar things that tugged at Evie’s heart for a moment as she watched the self-satisfied man in front of her.

“So, the blondes,” Evie fired. Harry chuckled.

“An improvisation. Another thing ‘at CJ mentioned and I thought I’d put tae use, ‘at ye’d pick up oan. Or, well, Chad would.”

“How did you know Chad would pick up on it?”

“Chad an’ Gil still gab regularly an’ Chad mentioned he was gonnae Auradon. It just all fell intae place nicely, honestly. A sign from th’ universe.”

“Yeah, sure, the universe,” Evie grumbled. They stood in front of each other in silence for a moment before Evie spoke up, “So, what now?”

“I’m plannin’ oan a big finale before I piss off tae Scotland tae meet CJ an’ Harriet,” Harry tells her with a pearly white grin, “Somethin’ dramatic an’ memorable.”

Evie studies Harry with for a moment, her expression calculating as she considered her options. The man waited.

“I think I can help you with that,” Evie proposes after a moment.

Harry raises an eyebrow, interested.

“I’m listenin’.”

* * *

The feeling of her mattress bouncing as something falls, or whatever someone jumps on it wakes Mal from her slumber. The blonde frowns and sits up swiftly, turning to her side to glare at Evie in her dimly lit room.

“You’re back,” Mal states, her voice raspy from sleep. Evie smirks.

“I have somethin’ you want,” Evie sing-songs, her eyes shining in that way that both frightened and excited Mal. Mal glances at the digital clock on her bedside table and frowns. 5AM.

“It’s 5AM.”

“What kind of law enforcement are you? Crime doesn’t sleep, you know,” Evie tutted, leaning back against the headboard of Mal’s bed.

“Evie,” Mal complains, feeling silly but not being able to stop herself. She’s shortly thrown back to asking her mother for another 5 minutes in bed. She shakes her head and forces her focus on Evie.

The brunette is watching her with that same glint in her eyes, as if she’s having a lot of fun with this entire situation. It only serves to add to Mal’s already grumpy mood.

“Evie,” Mal complains again, more forceful this time. The brunette chuckles and with the blink of an eye Mal’s on her back again, but this time with Evie straddling her hips, her hands pushing gently at her shoulders so she remains there. She sighs.

“I figured out their location,” She states simply, not giving Mal any chances to say anything in response to that, meeting her lips in a rough kiss as soon as Mal’s eyes widen and her mouth opens in shock at the statement, fully awake now.

When Evie pulls away, Mal’s staring at her in surprise.

“I will help you like I promised, but there’s a catch,” Evie states, throwing back to the conversation that had started this whole partnership, weeks ago. Mal closed her eyes in frustration.

“Don’t be like that, baby,” Evie pouts, “I promise the catch it’s something you’ll like.”

The suggestive raise of an eyebrow makes Mal roll her eyes, understanding.

“Evie…”

“Mm?” Evie hummed, leaning down and kissing Mal’s neck softly.

“I can’t do this with you again,” Mal tells her, trying to turn her head in spite of herself. Evie’s chuckle against her neck unnerves and excites her all at once.

“Why not, M? We want this,” another kiss to her neck, “And you’ll get more of it than I will. You’ll close your case.”

“Evie, I can’t -- you know I care about you. You’re sick, you’re _terrible_ , but somehow I fell for you and I _can’t_ do this again,” Mal insists. Evie leans back so she’s hovering over Mal, her brown eyes meeting the blonde’s green ones filled with an emotion that takes Mal’s breath away for a second before it disappears completely. Mal’s about to question it when Evie leans down and takes Mal’s lips in a long, passionate kiss that Mal can’t help but reciprocate.

She pulls away after a moment and Mal watches her in silence as she gets off her legs and sits back against the headboard like she’d been sitting before. Mal waits a second before she sits up.

“So…” Mal trails off, her eyes trained to the comforter on her bed. “Will you let me go with you?”

It takes Evie a moment to answer, and when she does, her voice is distant, “Yes.”

Relief fills Mal’s being and she’s sure that the other woman can sense it. She tries to mask it anyway before she continues, “Well?”

“Get dressed. I’ll be waiting outside,” Evie orders, her eyes shifting back to that same glint they had before. Something about it threw Mal off and she couldn’t help but find it chilling.

She does as told anyway, and the grin on Evie’s face as she watches Mal follow her orders looks way too suspicious for Mal’s liking, but she shrugs it off -- that was just how things were with Evie, she supposes.

* * *

Mal drove them on her personal car, Evie taking advantage of the tinted windows to sit freely at the passenger seat as she gave the blonde the directions to an abandoned building not too far away from her home and from the last bar that had been turned into a crime scene. Something about that sends a shiver down Mal’s spine, but she doesn’t say anything -- only drives.

Truthfully, she doesn’t know why she wanted to come; it’s not like she knew or could get rid of the criminal herself. Evie had agreed to help her -- and that included getting rid of them, as she herself had said it, they were of the same species “biologically” and Evie refused to share any information on how one goes about doing such a thing. A smart move, Mal guesses. Knowledge is and has always been power, and it’s very uncharacteristic for Evie to not have the upper hand on Mal.

Once they had arrived to the location, Mal parked her car and looked at the building in ruins for a moment in silence. This would be it.

“Ready?” Evie asked her, her brown eyes on the building as well. Mal nods and takes a deep breath before she opens the door to let herself out.

Evie steps out of the car after Mal and circles the vehicle, quickly catching up to the blonde and using a hand to pull her back by the shoulder. Mal turns to her, eyes questioning. “Walk behind me.”

Mal nods, and she waits for Evie to do the honors before she trails behind. They entered the building by the side entrance and walked down an empty, dimly lit hall. Mal found that the more they advanced into the building, the darker it got and the more her apprehension grew.

“We gotta take the stairs to the second floor,” Evie all but whispers, her voice velvety and smooth as ever in the dark. Mal nods, and lets herself be led by Evie up the stairwell. Evie’s movements were slow and careful, and Mal tried her hardest to copy her, but she knew that even if she succeeded, Evie could hear her heart beating fast and loud against her chest. Once they got to the second floor, Mal’s eyes were already adjusted to the dim light but was thankful that at least the high windows on the wall a few feet away from where she stood gave the room some sort of lighting so she could see properly.

Mal watched as Evie made her way to the middle of the room and stopped, turning to Mal with a small smile on her face.

“Evie?” Mal questioned, her eyebrows furrowed.

“You can come out now, Harry,” Evie calls to the empty room, her eyes still on Mal. Mal’s frown deepens and then her eyes widen when a door opens on the right corner of the room and from it steps no one else but Harry, _Uma’s_ Harry, a pearly white smile on his face as he walks into the lighting.

“What --”

“Hello, Mal. Fancy meetin’ ye here,” Harry greets her, his accent mixing with his teasing tone.

“Harry, what the fuck?” Mal questioned, confusion dripping from her voice. Harry chuckled.

“Oh, Mal, ye should see yer face reit now. It was definitely worth all my troubles,” Harry sighed, taunting, walking closer to her. “Are ye surprised? Is this a shock tae ye?”

“How could you --”

“Ah, dae we have tae dae this? I was hopin’ we could skip tae th’ good part,” Harry pouted, stopping just a few steps away from Mal. When the blonde only glared, he sighed and continued, “Fine. How could I dae what? I did a lot of things, Mal. Ye have tae help me here.”

“Cut the drama, Harry,” Evie’s voice says from where she stood, watching the scene with that same small smile on her face. With that, something clicks on Mal’s brain.

“Wait, how do you two know each other?” She asks, looking from Evie to Harry with her eyebrows furrowed.

Harry’s smile turns into a wicked grin when he looks at Evie for a second before turning to Mal, “Oh, we go way back. Evie here is somethin’ of a sister in law tae me, ain’t ‘at reit, Evie?”

Mal looks at the brunette, shocked.

“Oops, haven’t ye told ‘er about CJ? My bad,” Harry said, feigning an apologetic tone, and Evie rolls her eyes.

“CJ? Your sister?” Mal asks, recalling having a conversation with Harry once about his sisters. Remembers him showing her a picture and pointing out a blonde as his younger sister.

“Th’ one an’ only,” Harry nods, “Ye ken, Evie has a thing for the blondes.”

“Harry, enough.” Evie warns him.

“Her preference was e’en my inspiration, I have tae admit,” Harry tells Mal, ignoring Evie’s warning. From the corner of her eyes, Mal sees Evie sigh in frustration, “Although I don’t ‘hink she was a fan of th’ killin’ lasses part of it,” he adds as an afterthought, tutting once.

“All those times you were listening to Uma and I talk about this case…”

“Oh, yeah. It was definitely a nice tooch, wasn't it? It was an improvisation after I met Uma randomly at a bar after my first killing ‘round here,” Harry shrugs, “Had ye fooled, didn’t I?”

“Audrey was right about you,” Mal realized. The man rolls his eyes.

“Don’t e’en get me started oan th’ wee witch, she almost ruined th’ whole thing wi’ ‘er suspicions.”

“What I don’t get,” Mal said after a second, “is the point of all this. Why did you do it?”

“Because I wanted to,” Harry shrugs, and then he adds with a small smile as his blue eyes fall on Evie, “An’ I just wanted tae play a harmless wee prank oan an old mate an’ reconnect wi’ ‘er once she undoubtedly fell for it an’ found me,” Another shrug and he turns his attention back to Mal, “It worked out fine.”

“How did you know Evie would fall for it?” Mal asks, curious. It was weird, she noticed, having someone know Evie so well and for so long. It was even weirder that it was Harry.

Harry looked genuinely amused by the question.

“Evie? Missin’ an opportunity tae see my sister again? Please,” He scoffs. When he notices the way Mal’s expression falls for a second at the same time Evie winces, he grins, thoroughly amused now, “What? Did ye think Evie was back ‘cos of ye?”

“Harry.” Evie says, her tone one of warning. Mal tries not to let her face show Harry that he’d managed to hurt her.

“So, what now?” Mal asks, willing her voice not to break, “Your little prank worked, I see you and Evie caught up, you know there’s nothing I can do to stop you. What now?”

“Oh, Mal. Haven’t ye figured out why Evie led ye tae me? I ken yer nae ‘at dense.”

Betrayal hits Mal like a ton of bricks, and her head snaps in Evie’s direction to catch her expression. There’s a shadow of something on Evie’s face that Mal can’t quite place, and it distracts her from Harry, who’d been watching the action amusedly. When she notices Harry taking a step towards her from the corner of her eye, she snaps her head back at the same time as she takes a step back and grabs her gun from the back of her pants, pointing it to Harry on instinct. Harry seems amused by it, if the high pitched laugh he lets out is any sign.  

“Ye ken ‘at won’t work on me, reit?”

Mal doesn’t put the gun down, deciding that even if it didn’t work -- which she was aware wouldn’t --, it at least could buy her some time to escape worse come to worse.

Harry rolls his eyes at her, and before Mal could really process it he grabbed her by the wrists with one hand and pulled her to him, forcing her arms down so her gun was pointed at the ground between their feet. One of his hands held her wrists in an iron grip as the other raised to grab her by the face, his touch hard enough that she was sure would bruise. She tries to free herself but it’s useless.

“Harry.” Evie’s voice speaks again, her tone unfamiliar to Mal. She tries to look at Evie but Harry’s grip on her face doesn’t let her. He ignores her warning, his eyes not leaving Mal.

“Now, now, Mal. How should I dae this favor for Evie? Have ye ever thought about how ye wanted tae die?” Harry asks her, his tone light and taunting, “What if I made ye use ‘at gun oan yerself an’ make my job easier?”

“ _Harry._ ” Evie repeats, her tone stronger and closer now. Mal doesn’t need to be able to look to know that Evie’s approached them.

Harry’s blue eyes turn golden and look deep into Mal’s and the blonde found herself losing resistance against him, finding herself in a trance against her own will, “Shoot yerself, Mal. Reit in th’ leg.”

Mal pulls the trigger, not understanding or knowing why, and the moment the shot fires and the bullet hits her thigh, she breaks from her trance as her body is thrown away and she’s freed from Harry’s grip. In pain, she looks up from the ground and finds an enraged Evie kicking Harry down on the floor by the stomach after forcing him away from Mal. Harry groans and makes to stand up, but Evie is faster than him -- with one swift movement, she grabs him by the collar of his jacket and pushes him against the wall. He tries to fight her back, but Evie’s definitely stronger than he is and he seems to know it. Mal watches as Evie takes her hands up to his neck and presses down, before she makes another swift movement and the blonde hears the sound of a crack from steps away.

Mal watches in horror and shock as Harry’s head drops and Evie throws him on the ground, her face stoic. Mal almost forgets she’s been injured as she stares at Harry’s body on the floor.

“Is -- is he dead?” Mal asks, her voice breaking.

Evie walks towards her and kneels by her side, her hands coming to rest on Mal’s bleeding leg, “Kind of. For now.”

“What does that mean?” Mal asks, confused, and Evie ignores her. “Evie.”

“Don’t worry about it. Are you hurt anywhere else?” She asks, her brown eyes running across Mal’s figure rushedly. She seems out of it. Mal frowns.

“Evie.”

“Mal, you’ve been shot. I can take care of it,” Evie responds. There’s hints of stress on her voice, “You need to call for backup.”

“But, Evie --”

“Now, Mal. I can’t take you to the hospital and I’ve got to get Harry out of here. He’ll be out of your hair soon, like I promised.” Evie said, her tone assertive. Evie’s eyes had adopted that distant look that Mal hadn’t seen in a while but was so used to.

Mal stared at her, her eyes filled with sadness and heartbreak at the implications of what Evie was saying. They locked eyes for a moment, and then finally with a resigned sigh, Mal fished her radio from her jacket pocket and raised it to her mouth.

Evie watched her with the same distant look as she called in for help and informed her location. Once that was done, she winced. Her leg throbbed and her head hurt.

She gripped at her leg and flinched, feeling lightheaded. Evie’s tanned hands covered hers and she presses their hands at the wound, trying to stop the blood. Evie winces when it fails. Usually, the sight of blood would’ve excited her -- would’ve made the never ending thirst at her throat heighten. But right now, all it did was scare her.

She’d realized that when it came down to it, when it came down to the last second, she couldn’t -- didn’t want to imagine a world without Mal on it. She thought getting Harry to do the dirty work for her would’ve helped, would’ve worked -- how ignorant of her.

“Please, be strong. For me,” Evie teases, her voice breaking in actual concern. Mal’s eyes widened when she saw that the concern had reached Evie’s eyes -- it’d been the first time she’s ever seen it happen, “I can’t have you dying now. I’m supposed to be the one doing it, remember?”

“I hate you,” Mal says, her voice weak. She feels a bit nauseous now. Evie leans forward and Mal feels her lips pressing on the corner of her own.

“I love you, M,” Evie tells her quietly. She makes to pull away to stand, her hands leaving their place on top of Mal’s, but the blonde grabs her at the last minute. Evie thinks that if she could feel her heart in any capacity right now, it would be breaking at the sight of the sadness mixed with shock in Mal’s eyes as she looks at Evie.

“You can’t say that to me now.”

“I’m sorry,” She says, and it sounds genuine.

It’s also the first time she’s said those words to Mal.

The blonde watches as Evie stands from her place and walks back towards Harry’s unconscious body. Mal panics when she realizes these are her last seconds in Evie’s presence.

“I love you, too.” Mal manages to get out, needing those words to be out there and heard by the other woman at least once.

Evie pauses, her back to Mal. She closes her eyes, allowing those words to seep in and warm her insides.

_(A burning sensation.)_

“I know,” Evie mutters. She leans down and picks Harry up and throws him over her shoulder, hearing the sounds of the sirens from a few blocks away, approaching at a fast speed. She had to go now if she wanted to escape unnoticed.

She doesn’t allow herself one last look at the blonde, and Mal watches as Evie leaves with Harry through the tears in her eyes.

Her whole body hurts, but Mal that finds that it’s nothing compared to the crushing pain she feels on her chest when Evie disappears.

* * *

“Are you sure you’re not concussed?” Audrey asks for the thousandth time, her hands holding Mal’s hand that was free of needles between her own, her brown eyes studying her friend in concern.

“I’m sure,” Mal tells her, offering her a smile, “I promise, it was just a shot on my leg.”

“You really, really need to start wearing some sort of protection on your legs,” Uma said from her place on the chair beside Mal’s bed, “And stop walking into abandoned buildings by yourself. Seriously, what the fuck, Mal?”

“You had us so worried!” Audrey scolded, “Why would you do something like that? You weren’t even on your shift!”

Mal shrugged meekly, not really knowing what to tell them. The report she’d given wasn’t her best work, all things considered, but she guessed the truth would be even more absurd and unbelievable.

“Misjudgement,” She says finally, “I thought I had a lead and went a bit crazy with it.”

“I know, but --” Audrey shook her head, taking a deep breath as she closes her eyes and then exhaling and giving Mal a small smile, “It doesn’t matter. I’m just relieved you’re better.”

“Yeah, me too, Mal,” Uma says, standing from the chair and sitting on the other side of the bed, “Don’t do this again, okay?”

“I won’t,” She promises. She means it.

“Good,” Uma smiled, “Now that that’s settled, can I finally vent about the asshole that Harry is for dipping like that and breaking up via text?”

Mal raises her eyebrows, pretending to be surprised, and Audrey rolls her eyes.

“I never liked him.”

This time, Uma rolls her eyes, “You never like anyone.”

“That’s because I can read people and I know when they’re not worth it.”

“No, that’s just because you’re a bitch.”

Audrey rolls her eyes but chuckles nonetheless, and Uma throws her a wink and blows her a kiss as if to tell her she was kidding, as if it was necessary. Mal watches them with a smile, glad that at least she had them and that at least now they were really safe since Harry had left.

Mal would take her small victories wherever she could get them.

* * *

It doesn’t take too long for her to show up after Evie had used Harry’s phone to contact her right after sending Uma a long break-up text on his behalf. She knocks on Chad’s door just as the night sky is transitioning into the morning sky, and she has a smile on her face when she sees Evie, even as she tells her that her brother is neck-snapped-unconscious in her living room.

“I’m sure he deserved it,” CJ says as she studies Harry’s unconscious form for a moment. He was definitely at least an hour away from waking up again, “but what exactly happened?”

CJ watched as the brunette exhaled and motioned with her head towards the few bags on the corner of the room that she hadn’t noticed before.

“Did you come by car?” Evie asks, grabbing one of the bags. CJ nodded.

“Well, technically I stole one,” CJ added after a second. She smiled when Evie chuckled and walked over to the bags to help her with some.

“These are Harry’s stuff?”

“Yeah, Chad grabbed ‘em while I stayed here to make sure your dumb brother would stay dead.”

“Okay, wanna tell me what that’s all about?” CJ asks while they walk out and start to make their way to the black car parked in front of Chad’s house.

Evie begins telling the story, the full thing from Mal’s undercover case to the end as they load up the car with Harry’s things and then Harry himself in the passenger seat, his head dropping to his chest as soon as CJ strapped him to the seat in a sitting position.

CJ heard Evie’s retelling in silence and with rapt attention, the two ending up sitting on the porch steps of the house as Evie finished her tale and made sure to keep a watchful eye on the car, not wanting Harry to wake up before CJ had already driven them far away from Auradon.

They’re in silence for a moment after Evie finishes the story, handing her the phone that belonged to the blonde’s brother and telling her that she’d removed the chip and destroyed it so the woman and the people Harry’s little prank had hurt wouldn’t have access to him anymore.

“Thank you for calling me,” CJ says finally as she pockets Harry’s phone on her jacket, “Thank you for not really killing him.”

“I couldn’t,” Evie tells her earnestly, “I know how important he is to you and Harriet. It wouldn’t be right. Plus, I just had to stop him from doing something _I_ put him up to. It wouldn’t be fair to kill him.”

CJ nodded, her expression thoughtful, “So, this Mal woman… how is she now after all this? To us it’s just the norm, but for a human…”

“I don’t know, actually,” Evie bites her lip, concern seeping into her tone and filling her eyes, “I haven’t seen her since. Chad told me she’s out of the hospital, though, so that’s good.”

“Yes, it is,” CJ nods, giving Evie a small smile. Then, with her tone careful, she asks, “Do you plan on seeing her again?”

“I don’t know yet,” Evie admits, and her tone is one that CJ hasn’t heard from the woman in literal ages, “I just… I can’t be what she needs me to be.”

“I know,” CJ gives her a small sad smile. She takes her hand to Evie’s and holds it in a soft grip, comforting. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Evie shrugs, “It was my own mistake, I guess.”

“You don’t have to be happy with it, but I don’t think that counts as a mistake. Feeling things isn’t a mistake,” CJ tells her softly. Evie knows that if she still had that capacity, she’d be crying right now. CJ seems to know that too by the soft reassuring smile she gives her.

CJ doesn’t know everything about Evie like Chad does, but she knows enough that her opinion matters to Evie -- she had been, after all, one of the only people whom Evie had allowed herself to be fully vulnerable with over the years. And that’s the reason why Evie lets CJ’s words comfort her.

“So, what are you going to do now?” CJ asks her curiously. Evie shrugs. That’s something she’d been trying to figure out herself.

“I’m not sure,” Evie sighs, “I think I’ll head back to France. I can’t access any of my houses yet, but Chad has this cute little place just on the outskirts of Paris that I really like.”

“You always did love Paris,” CJ notes with a nod, “That could be good.”

“Are you going to Scotland? Harry mentioned something.”

“Yeah,” CJ nods, “Harriet’s already there. I was actually on my way when you called.”

“Yeah, where were you?” Evie frowned, curious, “I can’t believe you didn’t know what your brother was up to.”

CJ shrugged, “I was in Canada, and then I was in Alaska, and then somewhere else and then some other place,” She smiles, “I have my own life, I can’t be babysitting Harry all the time, you know.”

Evie gives her a sheepish smile, “I know, I’m sorry.”

CJ bumps Evie’s shoulder with her own and they chuckle together, only to fall in silence after a moment as they watch the trees surrounding Chad’s house.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t catch up like we usually do,” Evie comments when CJ drops her hands to her thighs and says she should probably get going before Harry awoken.

CJ smirks before she laughs, “I know, but we have all eternity for that, don’t we?”

Before, Evie would’ve laughed along and agreed easily. But that was before. Now, she bites her lips and her eyes turn sad, and CJ notices it. She takes her hand to Evie’s shoulder and squeezes once, an apologetic look on her face.

“If you need anything, you know how and where to find me, right?” She says, her tone of a genuinely concerned friend. Evie is nothing but grateful she’d met CJ all those years ago and let herself open up for the woman in front of her. Before anything else, CJ had always been a great friend.

Evie nods and gives her a small smile. CJ smiles back and leans forward to peck Evie’s lips quickly before she winks and stands up gracefully, walking down the few steps and beginning to walk towards the parked car where her unconscious brother awaited.

“I’ll ask Gil to let Chad know when we get to Scotland,” CJ calls back as she opens the driver’s door, turning to look at Evie with a smile.

“Or you could just get my number and tell me yourself,” Evie calls out, teasing, and CJ crinkles up her nose and shakes her head with a silly grin on her face.

“Now, what fun would that be if we could just talk like normal friends slash fuck buddies do?” Evie laughs until she snorts and CJ smiles widely at her, “Oh, that’s always a sexy sound.”

“Just go,” Evie rolls her eyes, her expression amused. CJ winks before throwing her a wave and getting in the car, closing the door to her side right after. The windows of the car are tinted so Evie can’t see the inside of the car, but she waves nonetheless because she knows CJ can. And she doesn’t need to be able to see the blonde to know that she’s waving back before she starts the car and begins to drive away from Chad’s property.

Evie watches the car disappear with a mix of emotions. She drops her chin to her hands on top of her thighs and sighs.

At least that was done.

* * *

The first night that Uma and Audrey decide to give Mal some time to be alone, the blonde decides to go to bed early. She’d been bored -- the only thing stopping Mal from truly losing it being cooped up all day inside her house after she’d been freed from the hospital was having her friends’ company. But she guesses she appreciates them giving her some space, at least. She could already walk on her own -- with the help of crutches, of course, -- so it wasn’t like she was completely useless on her own.

She’s been cleared from having to take her sleeping meds every night, being instructed to only take them on the nights she knew she would really need their help, for which Mal is thankful. She’s never been a fan of them, finding that they made her too slow and sleepy for the rest of the following day -- Uma insisted it was just how Mal was, but it was better for Mal’s self esteem if she could blame it on the medication.

She lays on her back, one arm draped over her eyes as the other lays on her stomach and she breathes in and out, feeling the sleep begin to catch up to her. In minutes, she’s asleep.

And in what feels like minutes, but it was really hours, she wakes up to a familiar sound of a window sliding open in her apartment coming from the living room. She lies awake, her eyes closed as she focuses on the sounds of the soft footsteps against her carpeted floor leading up to her room and then to her bed, stopping when her mattress moves as someone sits down next to her. Mal allows a smile to appear on her face.

“Weirdo,” Evie greets softly.

“Are you here to make me take your words to the grave with me?” Mal jokes softly. She feels the mattress move again as Evie lays on the bed on her side so she can look at Mal properly and closely. She takes a hand to a short strand of Mal’s hair that was falling over the pillow and plays with it with her thumb and her pointer finger.

“Never,” Evie says, her tone earnest. The memory that the word brings to Mal’s mind makes her close her eyes so she can finally voice the question that’s been plaguing her mind since that day.

“Why did you ask him to do that?”

Evie sighs, and it takes her a moment to speak. Mal waits, her eyes closed.

“Because I hoped he would be able to do what I thought I wanted so I wouldn’t have to,” Evie began, “I wasn’t kidding when I told you that I wanted you dead, you know. And I’d always planned to do it myself, until I realized Harry could’ve come in handy. I told myself it was because I didn’t want to have to do the dirty work myself, but in the end I knew why I wouldn’t have gone through with it myself. I couldn’t stand to see you die,” Evie pauses as Mal processes her words, and then, “Seeing that Harry was going to go through with what I asked him to do scared me so badly, I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

They stay in silence after that, Mal staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully and Evie watching her, waiting.

Finally, Mal speaks up, but when she does, her tone is quiet -- sad.

“This is it, then.”

She turns her head to the side, her sad green eyes meeting Evie’s brown ones. The look in Evie’s eyes isn’t distant anymore.

“I wish it wasn’t,” Evie tells her softly, her hand coming up to rest on Mal’s face, “I wish I’d met you in another circumstance.”

Mal brings her hand up to rest on top of Evie’s on her face and closes her eyes, breathing in deeply before she exhales, opening her eyes again and feeling a tear leave her eye.

“Oh, don’t cry,” Evie all but coos, a frown appearing on her face, “It’s okay. We’ll be okay.”

“But not together.” Mal says, her voice breaking.

“Not now, at least,” Evie says, her voice so soft that it breaks Mal’s heart all over again. She’d never seen Evie like this -- she looked confused by all of that she was feeling. It was endearing, in a completely sad and heartbreaking way. Mal couldn’t imagine how hard it must’ve been for Evie to allow herself to feel and experience those emotions, at least in front of someone else. “I’m not good for you, M.”

“I know,” Mal sniffles. “I don’t care.”

Evie gives her a sad half smile, “But I do, Mal. There’s too much… there’s a lot I have to work on. I don’t know how to care for someone else. I don’t know if I can.”

“You could try,” Mal insists. She knows she’s being unreasonable, but she can’t stop herself.

“Mal, it’s not that easy,” Evie reasons anyway, her tone still soft, “I wish it was, trust me. I really wish I could stay and be what you need. What you deserve. I haven’t… I’ve never felt that way before. It scares the fuck out of me.”

Mal sniffles again, her tears falling free now, and Evie turns the hand that rests on her cheek so she’s grabbing the hand Mal had rested on top of hers in a hold. She brings their hands to rest on the mattress between them and watches the way they look together.

_(She’d never held someone’s hand like that before.)_

“Will I ever see you again?” Mal asks, her tone uncertain and almost afraid of the answer. Evie takes a moment to answer.

“When I’m ready. If you still want to,” She responds, her voice so quiet that Mal almost misses it.

“I will,” Mal tells her, sure of it. It makes Evie smile.

_(Evie always liked the way Mal fought back.)_

“Okay,” Evie says, her brown eyes meeting Mal’s, “Then I guess we’ll meet again someday.”

“Someday,” Mal repeats, the prospect of it both comforting and breaking her heart all at the same time.

Evie gives her a small smile before she moves and leans forward, capturing Mal’s lips for a slow kiss that leaves the blonde breathless when they part. Mal frees her hand from Evie’s hold to instead rest it on her cheek as she looks at her.

“Do you promise?” She asks.

“I promise, M,” Evie’s sad eyes are honest and her smile is so soft when she says with a teasing tilt to her tone, “Forever yours and never out of reach, remember?”

It takes Mal a moment to understand what she was referencing to, and when she does, a teary smile takes over her expression before she nods once.

“Can you stay the night?” She asks, already knowing the answer. Evie doesn’t answer, instead she only gives her a tiny apologetic, sad smile and begins to pull away.

Mal watches with tears falling slowly down her face as Evie gets off the bed and begins to make her way to the door. When the brunette pauses just before she crosses the door, Mal waits for Evie to look back at her. She does, and there’s so much emotion in Evie’s eyes that Mal doesn’t quite know what to do with herself.

“Will you really want to see me again someday?” Evie asks, her tone quiet and unsure.

“I can’t say no to you, remember?” Mal jokes softly. Evie chuckles sadly.

“That’s going to get you killed,” She shoots back, jokingly, and new tears fall from Mal’s eyes at that. “Goodnight, Mal.”

“Goodnight, E,” Mal responds, closing her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see Evie leaving. She hears as the footsteps get softer and distant as Evie makes her way back to her window, and Mal’s eyes close tighter when the window slides shut one last time.

 _Until someday,_ she repeats mentally to herself.

_(The thought comforts and breaks her heart all at once.)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this is it. How did I do? Comments are always appreciated. I hope you liked this, and thank you for reading it. I really, really appreciate it, especially when this was so different and hard for me as a writer of mostly fluff and humor. But I hope this was okay. 
> 
> Until next time! ♥


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